Today’s Siena poll on Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s job approval shows the public is largely satisfied with his administration’s level of transparency.

The survey of registered voters found 58 percent of voters think there has been no change in transparency or level of openness since the governor took office in January. Thirty percent think he’s made state government more transparent.

It’s possible these numbers could be higher after the governor released his public schedule from the first eight months of his administration, plus an interactive website that includes online chats.

Cuomo at the start of his term did make efforts to show he was ending the old ways at the Capitol, namely opening up the executive chamber on the second floor, which closed during the Pataki years.

Still, there are notable exceptions.

As The Buffalo News documented earlier this year, the administration has not been forthcoming about what, specifically, it is cutting from state agencies. And Cuomo’s legal team redacted large portions of travel records that had been requested through a freedom of information act request (now those records are all online, unredacted).

 

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