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Key West Citizen Sunshine Week should be celebrated all year Today begins Sunshine Week. The week was declared by media organizations and other groups who see the importance in the government providing its citizens with access to information. Many of those same groups believe the ability to get information from the government has eroded since Sept. 11, 2001, and have watched governments clamp down under the auspices of protecting homeland security. Some of those efforts to conceal information from would-be terrorists are justified, but we urge all governments to give thoughtful consideration each time they invoke security as the reason for denying the public, the taxpayers who pay for government and its services, their right to know how their governments are operating. Florida is ranked among the top states in the country for its openness, thanks to the state’s Sunshine Law that prohibits backroom dealmaking prior to a public vote by elected officials. Elected officials in Florida who have been caught meeting in private have been fined, ordered to pay court costs of their accusers and even sentenced to jail time. The most recent case of a Florida politician going to jail over Sunshine Law breaches was in 2003, when Escambia County Commissioner W.D. Childers was sentenced to 60 days in jail after a jury convicted him of discussing redistricting privately with another commissioner. He also pleaded no contest to secretly talking about building issues with two other commissioners. In the Keys, a judge nullified a contract in 2001 for a central sewer system in Key Largo after residents accused a panel making recommendations to the County Commission of discussing the contract in private telephone conferences. More recently, we have seen e-mails and heard comments from county commissioners that indicate some discussion has taken place out of public view. Citizen reporters have been told that draft documents, memos and other data that will be used to create a plan for spending millions on sewer systems in the Keys are not public information. Note to elected officials: All information collected for such decision-making purposes is subject to open records laws. Keys government agencies generally are open and even pleasant to reporters seeking information. Today’s article comparing the number and costs of vehicles available for government employees’ use was a good test of how all Keys governments respond to information requests. All Keys governments were asked the same set of questions about the number of vehicles they own, their policies on using the vehicles during working hours and after hours and costs to buy and maintain the vehicles. Mosquito Control, Keys Energy Services and Florida Keys Aqueduct Authority quickly provided the information, as if they had a computer program set up just for answering those questions. Monroe County provided the information in a difficult format and half-heartedly answered questions. The city of Key West provided more than reporters needed and let them choose what was relevant. In fact, all the agencies provided the information in some usable form. But one agency — the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office — apparently found the request so taxing that its public information officer demanded $50 before beginning to compile the information. The final bill, according to spokeswoman Becky Herrin, was $110, but the agency settled for the $50 already paid. It is not illegal for government agencies to charge newspapers for an inordinate amount of work. And newspapers are willing to pay photocopying fees and other charges when they’re requesting large volumes of information. But the fee is sometimes used as a threat or expression of power designed to get reporters and newspapers to back off. The tactic rarely works. In this case, it is interesting is that none of the other Keys government agencies — even those without a full-time public affairs person — found the request such a burden that it became necessary to charge the newspaper. Their staffs worked hard to get the information, provide explanations and answer last-minute questions at no charge. We thank them, and hope they continue to spread Sunshine throughout the Keys.
Reproduced courtesy
of the Key West Citizen. |
