From ColoradoWatchdog.org:  Colorado Court Administrator Gerald Marroney barreled down the hallway of the judicial building on a recent afternoon, looking straight ahead and ignoring my questions.

“I wanted to ask you why the judicial department doesn’t seem very transparent considering it gets millions of dollars from taxpayers — yet you don’t want to release documents most other departments do?” I asked after a state Internet portal authority personnel committee meeting.

Minutes before, Marroney, a former state judge, closed the committee meeting without any justification that an executive session was appropriate under state law.

“You’re not going to talk?” I persisted as Marroney quickened his pace. “Doesn’t that kind of show a lack of transparency, too?”

“You got information from my staff,” grunted Marroney, referring to the denial of my request for information on how often people were called for jury duty.

Marroney stepped through the double doors and into an elevator, and I followed.

“We’ve asked the department for a lot of different things, and you always say no. Shouldn’t the taxpayers know what you guys are spending money (on). Once the department has told me that even the budget isn’t open.”

Marroney fled the elevator into a secured portion of the building. He didn’t respond.

For the past decade, the Colorado Judicial Branch and its judges have repeatedly closed off more and more records to the public.  The department received more than a half-billion dollars last year, with $387 million of that coming from general fund tax proceeds, legislative Joint Budget Committee records show.

Visit ColoradoWatchdog.org for more.