Secrecy on the March: Making the Case for Sunshine Week

Approaching its 40th birthday, the Freedom of Information Act is looking more than a little worn around the edges. In fact, what it needs is a week of good, solid sunshine, and Sunshine Week 2006, March 12-18, is just the ticket.

The current administration has been characterized by open government observers—both conservatives and liberals—as one of the most secretive in recent history; a stance adopted even before the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Sunshine Week is not about journalists, it's about the public and the importance   of protecting and promoting open government. Sunshine Week is not about protecting   journalists' rights, it's about the right of all citizens to know what their   government is doing—and why.

Sunshine Week 2005 proved that developing a critical mass of discussion about the importance of open government can move the needle a little. Sunshine Week 2006 is off to a fantastic start, but the sunlight at the end of the tunnel remains a long way off.

Read more here about government secrecy and Sunshine Week.

Comments

[Ken Van Doren]

How do you get listed as a 2006 sunshine participant? I belong to a group called Juneau County Action Committee, a non-partisan group dedicated to openness, integrity and accountability of government at all levels, concentrating on local issues.

We hold bimonthly meetings, and unanimously supported sunshine week at our last meeting, and sent off a press release to that effect.

Ken Van Doren

[Dwight Hines]

Every year, for about 5 years, I've read and sometimes written about, Sunshine Day in Florida. Every year the traditional newsmedia report the results of their attempts to obtain records under the Florida Public Records Act (P.L. 119, F.S.).

Every year, the compliance rates are a bit over 60%, depending on agency, with law enforcement the lowest in compliance.

Every year, no one writes about followups of the requests that were made. So, the agencies are learning there are no consequences for not complying.

This year, as last year, there will be a Sunshine Week (www.sunshineweek.org) that is national.

We need to be sure that:

1) There is followup to the requests that are made, or the noncompliant agencies identified;

2) That needed legislation be enacted to enhance compliance;

3) That those agencies that are in chronic non-compliance be placed on a Watch List, like the Reporters for Free Press use for suspect judicial activities;

4) That those media who participate in Sunshine Week actually make requests that are meaningful and result in stories. The practice of using test questions such as 'what are the salaries of all the top managers" is a joke.

We need to discuss how to increase the impact of Sunshine Week and of the Open Records Acts in different states so we are on the offensive on freedom of information, not the defensive.

Dwight Hines
Investigative Reporters and Editors
Globalear.com

[voter]

Related to Sunshine Week issues is the one of "black box voting" - the use of electronic voting methods that provide NO accessible verifiable paper ballot... how in the world can Americans be secure in the knowledge that there vote was counted, counted correctly, and recorded correctly?! There have been documented cases of massive errors in electronic voting and the potential for even more. Surely some sun needs to shine into the secret black box of electronic voting... and there needs to be transparency in the process, i.e., no private company should control how all Americans' votes are processed.

[Robroy Fawcett]

California has some wonderful sunshine laws at the local government level. However, enforcement requires a leak or other disclosure by an insider. I believe that candidates need to be educated about sunshine laws before they reach office. During Sunshine Week, I will read the introdution to California's Brown Act during the public comment period of the weekly City Council meeting where I live.