News and commentary about open government and Freedom of Information issues, with a special focus on planning for the next Sunshine Week, March 15-21, 2009.
Tells Sunshine Campaign Says He Will Set New Standards for Openness
Former Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.), a Democrat seeking the presidency, chided the Bush administration for building "a culture of secrecy that dishonors America's democratic principles of government openness and accountability.
"As president," he wrote in response to the Sunshine Week 2008: Sunshine Campaign Survey, "I will work to restore Americans' trust in their government by creating a transparent government."
Edwards — who responded to the survey with a series of topical statements, rather than question-by-question — said he would establish an e-government system of "dynamic databases to help Americans track government spending, lobbying and campaign contributions as well as new interfaces for citizens to comment on pending bills and regulations."
Although Edwards did not address survey questions on topics such as classification, cameras in courtrooms or presidential records, he did pledge to rescind the Ashcroft memo limiting release of government information and to reduce the Freedom of Information Act request backlog. He also spoke out in defense of federal scientists, pledging that they "will be respected and they will never be censored … or pressured to bend scientific evidence to support an ideological agenda."
Democrat Says He Will Roll Back 'Obsessive Secrecy'
New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, Democratic candidate for president, says he supports open government and as president "would ensure that the obsessive secrecy of the Bush administration will be rolled back."
Richardson, responding to the Sunshine Week 2008: Sunshine Campaign Questionnaire, noted, "The public must and will have access to information about what its government is doing, and in the absence of a compelling reason, it will have that access."
Richardson, who in 2005 issued a proclamation in support of the first Sunshine Week, also said in the survey that he believes the "federal government has become far too secretive, and that must change."
He also supports a reporters' shield law protecting confidential sources, would reverse an executive order limiting release of presidential records, and would "use the bully pulpit of the presidency to protect the First Amendment rights of all scientists, including federally funded ones, to release all information to the public in the absence of a compelling reason to withhold it."
A second day of Des Moines Register Presidential Debate, this time featuring Democrats, again saw Editor Carolyn Washburn asking about the importance of open government.
Washburn asked Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY), about concerns that while she was First Lady, her health care reform task force was "too closed and secretive." Washburn questioned whether Clinton's "presidency would operate the same way.
"As president," she asked Clinton, "how would you ensure that your administration doesn't withhold information from the public even if it gave ammunition to your critics?"
Clinton responded that she "learned a lot from that experience, and clearly one of the principle lessons is that you have to have a very strong communication strategy. And we didn't do that.
"I have certainly learned from that, during the remaining years in the White House, when I helped to create the children's health insurance program and did a lot of other work with the Clinton administration and, of course, now in the Senate," Clinton added.
"I want to have an open and transparent government," the senator stated. "I have put forth very specific plans for how I would reform the government: Put as much as we can on the Internet. Now we've got this tool, let's use it. Let's have as much sunlight as we can possibly gather.
"Let's make sure we have an administration that works with the Congress instead of denying legitimate requests for information and witness testimony and all the rest that this administration, unfortunately, has done. I think it's also very important that we end the revolving door of lobbyists, [and] that we move toward public financing….
"I’m committed to open, transparent government, and I’ve learned a lot, and I think I can apply those lessons," Clinton said.
One question to former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani from Register Editor Carolyn Washburn focused on accusations of the mayor's handling of "security expenses in a way that obscured public disclosure. What specifically will you promise to do to ensure that a Giuliani White House is open with information that might be inconvenient to explain to the public?"
Giuliani responded that "All that information was available, and known to people, known six years ago." He added that he "would make sure that government was transparent. My government in New York City was so transparent that they knew every single thing I did almost every time I did it. So I would be extremely, I would be extremely open."
Picking up on the story, New York's Daily News noted that some are more skeptical of the mayor's claim, including First Amendment attorney Floyd Abrams, who was quoted by the Daily News as saying that Giuliani "ran the least open, least transparent government in living memory."
Washburn also asked candidate former Assistant Secretary of State Alan Keyes how he would "guarantee an open white house."
"I think the most important thing is to be authentic about the person you are," Keyes responded. "Not to take a stand on the most important principle that faces our nation today, endowed by our creator with our inalienable rights and not to abandon the heritage of the Republican party…. I think it would be important to do what I'm doing in my campaign. We have phone calls every week, people gather online to talk to me, interact, state their views. We have technologies that allow people to communicate directly with their leadership."
