More People See Federal Government as Secretive; Nearly All Want to Know Where Candidates Stand on Transparency

Three-quarters of American adults view the federal government as secretive, and nearly nine in 10 say it's important to know presidential and congressional candidates' positions on open government when deciding who to vote for, according to a Sunshine Week survey by Scripps Howard News Service and Ohio University.

The survey shows a significant increase over the past three years in the percentage of Americans who believe the federal government is very or somewhat secretive, from 62 percent of those surveyed in 2006 to 74 percent in 2008.

The survey of 1,012 adults was commissioned by ASNE for Sunshine Week, a national initiative that encourages discussions about the importance of open government and freedom of information. Sunshine Week's 2008 Sunshine Campaign is a yearlong effort to have candidates for all level of office — from president to city council — discuss their positions on government access issues.

Half of respondents said government at the state level is secretive, while 44 percent viewed it as open. Nearly all interviewed, 92 percent, said open government is important to them in assessing candidates for state offices such as governor or attorney general. Those who see local government as secretive increased from 34 percent in 2007 to 40 percent in the 2008 survey. And 91 percent said the local candidate's position and record on open government are important to them in making a voting decision.

Read more on the Sunshine Week site.

Comments

[Chris Wilson]

The local newspaper has been using your organization as a reference to open up our long-secretive city hall here in Fairhope AL.. Small town politics can be worse than national--not what you know but who you know at city hall makes all the difference.

[Amy Helm]

With your new policy of a more open government(Clinton)- I expect to know more about the following: military operations concerning weather modification, the spraying of our skies with barium and aluminum oxide by all world militias due to the open sky treaties, the government having scientists genetically modify all food and seed, mandatory innoculations at birth to school age, why we the people are continually raped of our earnings through a law that does not exist, and finally the laws and signing statements that George W. Bush has signed granting him unlimited power, that you will be repealing, in turn, giving the people REAL rights and civil liberties. These important issues require transparency to all people for we have become guinea pigs, lab experiments, and slaves- and what is YOUR definition of a more open government and what audience are you speaking to, so I am clear about your intentions? And knowing that we are all being data-mined- that above question about "Remember personal info?" box is assanine.