Harrisburg, Pa. - No one said implementing Pennsylvania's new Right-To-Know Law was going to be easy. There have been some problems in the four months since the law took effect.

"I felt that Pennsylvania was in a position of being perilously close to making the Office of Open Records ineffective," said Terry Mutchler, Executive Director of the Office of Open Records.

Mutchler blamed the problems on state officials who were refusing to comply with the new law, which is designed to make government records more accessible to the public. She wrote a letter to Gov. Ed Rendell expressing her concerns. That led to a face to face meeting with the governor several weeks ago.

"A lot of it was just resistance from our folks and I think that resistance was wrong. I told her that. I told our folks that," Rendell told abc27 News.  Rendell sent out a memo ordering all state officials to cooperate with the Office of Open Records.

In addition, Mutchler will hold meetings on a regular basis with Governor's Office attorneys and state agencies. The goal is to open lines of communication.

"This governor is pro open government," said Mutchler. "I feel solid in the fact we are continuing to work out kinks. I think that's behind us."

The Office of Open Records is now fully staffed with six attorneys. They've been busy. Since January, 360 appeals have been filed by citizens and the media when a record was denied.

"It has been surprising to me that so many have so quickly taken advantage of this law," said Mutchler. "We're obviously happy about that."

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