Identity Theft Amendment: Pickin' a fight with Folks who buy ink by the Barrel...

Rep. Paul Stam, a Wake County Republican, lobbed an amendment to strike language from Identity Theft Legislation this week. The section of the bill he eliminated, by voice vote in the House Judiciary Committee, was originally meant to assure that news media would continue to have access to already "open"open government records.

Attorney General Cooper and the Press Association, and other groups have already layed the groundwork for the language in the legislation that protects SSN#'s and other personal information associated with these records. Word is, the language will get back into the legislation and I believe it should. I don't believe now is the time for a free speech and press scrap.