First some truths: Sunshine is a powerful disinfectant that workswonders on government. Open meetings and the free disclosure of public records contribute to a more informed electorate. Further, democracies function best if the people know what the government is up to. They are likely to have more confidence in an open government rather than one that shrouds its operations and treats its citizens, taxpayers and voters like outsiders or even enemies.
Citizens and public officials get all this. But the laws ensuringthe disclosure of records and the conduct of open meetings require constant vigilance. Just in Western New York, citizens and reporters have seen many public officials reflexively conceal information out of self-protection or insecurity. They explain their secrecy with some pap about taxpayer protection or personal privacy or other self-serving blah, blah, blah.
Today starts Sunshine Week, the annual campaign originated by theAmerican Society of Newspaper Editors to emphasize the importance of an open government to a free people. And there is no better validation of the importance of open government than the movement sweeping the Middle East, where the multitudes have risen up to throw off calcified despots and their secretive regimes.
There have been huge strides in government transparency since thefederal Freedom of Information Act began 41 years ago to let citizens request records from the federal government. States have enacted similar acts, and in the Internet age governments are throwing more and more information onto websites for easy access. For many local governments, closed meetings are the rare exception. In New York, the shadow government of public "authorities" is being dragged into the open.
But there has been backsliding. Many citizens dealing with local governments have learned that New York's Freedom of Information Law is only as good as your lawyer because local Freedom of Information officers feel free to either flout the law or don't understand it well.
Erie County government, under County Executive Chris Collins, hastreated some public records as though they are personal holdings. For example, Collins denied the New York Civil Liberties Union the county documents that would indicate how much the county spends settling and defending inmate lawsuits. Thankfully, a judge ruled against Collins, and even let the Civil Liberties Union recover its own attorney's fees because the county's arguments were so flimsy. For a brief time, the Buffalo schools' top echelon proceeded as though the School Board would interview candidates to fill a School Board vacancy in private. Imagine, a private process to fill a public post. Fortunately, that would-be blunder was averted, and the interviews occurred in the open.
Congress and state legislatures are always chipping away at theirSunshine Laws, almost always on the misguided notion that some information might be too sensitive, or that public officials can work best by limiting the public's view. New York should have long ago adopted a format to routinely allow cameras in courtrooms, and even with today's advanced technology that has not happened. Similarly, the nation has gone too long without a law protecting journalists who refuse to disclose sources who wish to reveal inside information about public concerns.
As we have said before, sometimes the truth hurts. But in a democracy, secrecy hurts more.
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