FSNE - Sunshine Sunday

Threats to open government in Florida are real and growing. Two weeks before the 2004 legislative session, nearly 50 new exemptions to open government laws have been proposed. Many of them, in the words of First Amendment Foundation president Barbara Petersen, are "real stinkers." A recent statewide survey by a group of Florida newspapers shows local agencies are complying with public records requests only about half the time.

More and more often, newspapers and citizens face demands for exorbitant fees when requesting copies of public documents. The past two years, the Florida Society of Newspaper Editors (FSNE) sponsored "Sunshine Sunday," a one-day, statewide public awareness campaign about the importance of open government in a democratic society.

Most of the state's daily newspapers published editorials, columns, editorial cartoons or news stories about the importance of open government in Florida. State newspapers' collective efforts were (and still are) posted on the FSNE Website: www.fsne.org.

The impact the first two years was incredible. Almost all of roughly 300 proposed exemptions to our state's model open government laws were killed.

Because of the continuing threat to open government in Florida, FSNE is launching a third annual "Sunshine Sunday" today and Hernando Today along with scores of other Florida daily newspapers are participating as we did last year in this important effort to preserve our state's proud tradition of government-in-the-sunshine. The survey conducted in Hernando County earlier this year revealed a reluctant school district staffer that sent a citizen to a dead-end telephone, which the First Amendment Foundation found to be a violation.

Other counties in Florida did far worse than Hernando. The foundation found that 57 percent of government employees that were part of the survey failed to follow the law. The foundation monitors how well the stringent Florida Government-in-the-Sunshine Law is being followed.

Our reporters say getting public records from county government officials is easy. When the citizen investigator asked for the phone records and correspondence between County Administrator Dick Radacky and the county commissioners, the information was provided in a timely manner. The sheriff’s office has several employees whose job it is to assist the public in getting records and helping reporters. One of them, Lt. Joe Paez, is a public information officer whose specific job is giving information about crimes so reporters don’t bother who are busy most of the time on patrol.

Both school district and county government officials are helpful when showing reporters financial data, according to School Reporter Deborah Bacon and County Government Reporter Fred Hiers. An area of concern, however, is the tendency by the school district to hold some staff and specially-appointed citizen committee meetings behind closed doors, excluding reporters — and the public — from getting in on the debate.

Such a committee was formed recently to discuss what should be done with the controversial book, “Deenie,” that contains a reference to masturbation. Until a lawsuit forced the issue back into the sunshine, the press and citizenry was left to only guess what the committee talked about. When such detours around the First Amendment are allowed, the issue still comes before the board for a decision but if the “right” people are selected for the so-called blue ribbon committee by non-elected staff employees, neither the elected board members or the public know what was discussed behind closed doors. When a recommendation emerges and comes before the school board for a vote at a public meeting, the details discussed in secret seldom are talked about. That quells debate and undermines the democratic process. We eschew such a ploy and trust our elected officials at the school board agree with us.