The Bradenton Herald

Open records

Government transparency essential

This should come as no surprise to most, but there still are those who think otherwise:

"The role of Florida’s government is to serve the people of Florida, and open government gives the people the tools they need to hold their elected officials accountable. I am proud to defend Florida’s open government laws and honored to keep them among the strongest in the nation." So said Gov. Charlie Crist on Friday in proclaiming "A Week of Sunshine."

A prominent judge in Ohio crystallized the underlying principle of Crist's message. "Public records are the people’s records," Rufus B. Smith wrote in 1901. "The officials in whose custody they happen to be are mere trustees for the people."

Yes, indeed, public records are open to everyone. They belong to you.

Sunday, March 16, marked the beginning of Sunshine Week 2008 across the country. The annual spotlight on  open government serves to remind the public that our nation runs on a simple principle — "government of the people, by the people, for the people."

Sunshine Week is led by the American Society of Newspaper Editors in conjunction with public officials, civic groups, broadcast and online media, celebrities, non-profits, religious leaders and a host of others.

While Crist spotlights government accountability, our open records laws put a great deal more information into your hands — vital information about important life decisions.

Wouldn't you want to be able to check out the inspection records of the nursing home you're considering for your mother? Or a surgeon's malpractice records before checking into the hospital? Discover how many sex offenders live near the home you're considering buying? How that school ranks for a good education? How that neighborhood restaurant fared on health inspections?

All that and more is available to you — so you can make more informed decisions about your life.

Florida is well known as the groundbreaking trend-setter for so-called Sunshine Laws, as open government and open records statutes are known.

Fortunately for Floridians, Crist is a champion of the public's right to scrutinize their government — as citizens should keep demanding, lest we backslide. He campaigned for office on the issue.

Crist has made access to government easier. You can learn more about the Governor's Office of Open Government or make a request for public records online, at www.flgov.com/og_home and www.flgov.com/og_public_records.

Upon assuming office in January 2007, Crist created the Office of Open Government and the Commission on Open Government. The nine-member panel's mission is to determine the roadblocks to accessibility and come up with recommendations to remove those, thus providing marching orders for the office. The commission's final report is due to the governor by the end of this year.

The panel has already achieved some success as a result of its first two meetings, including the endorsement of changes in law to allow access to Department of Children and Families records.

That commission just met last month in Manatee/Sarasota, at New College. Newspaper publishers, attorneys and lobbyists testified. The general counsel for the Florida Press Association, Sam Morley, expressed concern over the growing number of exemptions in Florida that restrict access to public records. He remarked that he gets up to a dozen calls a day from journalists battling those open-records issues.

 That begs the question: Why does government need to act in secrecy? Certainly on national security, we do not want terrorists and our other enemies to know our secrets. On many other issues, we're left wondering if politicians are only shielding hidden agendas and selfish motives, including connections to lobbyists.

Did you know that lobbyists shelled out more than $200 million last year to influence our state government? That's according to a study by the St. Petersburg Times, published several weeks ago. We have a new law to thank for discovering that, this being only the second year that lobbyists must disclose their big-spending ways.

We need more laws like that one.

But as long as there are advocates for secrecy, there will be battles for transparency.

Our founding fathers insisted on "the right of the people . . . to petition the government for a redress of grievances." That's engraved in the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights.

Still, we have to fight to maintain that right.

This year, the focus of Sunshine Week follows the organization's yearlong project throughout the entire election season, taking the discussion of open government to the candidates for every office from U.S. president to city councils.

Civic organizations and other groups who host office-seekers for discussions should inquire about their commitment to open government and seek explanations about Freedom of Information issues.

When politicians balk at questions about their obligations to government transparency, voters should balk, too, at whether that candidate deserves to be elected. Back-room deals and the good-ole-boy network should be shunned in favor of open meetings and public debates.

Open government is essential to our democracy. We must raise our voices as one when politicians attempt to erode our First Amendment rights.

As founding father James Madison said: "The advancement and diffusion of knowledge is the only guardian of true liberty."

Reproduced courtesy of The Bradenton Herald.
Back to top | Return to fsne.org