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Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers Sunshine must stay on Florida Imagine a state government in which Cabinet and legislative committee meetings are held behind closed doors. Imagine county and city government meetings in which projects are approved, contracts signed, purchases made and regulations changed without public input or public knowledge because the deals are negotiated in private. Imagine taxpayer money being spent and taxpayers having no idea for what or why. Such outrageous shenanigans would seem nearly impossible today, but that was the condition of government in Florida when the “Pork Chop Gang” ruled the Legislature and public business by local governments was considered none of the public’s business. But, an outraged citizenry and the election of government reformers to the Legislature brought a new openness to government in Florida in the late 1960s. Today, under the Sunshine Amendment to the Florida Constitution and the state’s Public Records Law and Open Meetings Law, all records and meetings of government are presumed open to the public unless specifically exempted by the Legislature, based on “public necessity.” These open government laws are among the most comprehensive in the nation and have been widely praised for how they have improved public knowledge of the functions of government and made legislators and bureaucrats more accountable. Yet, that hasn’t stopped legislators, abetted by special interests, from seeking exemptions that would deny public access to certain records or meetings. Each year, lawmakers introduce scores of bills that would erode public access. Rarely is there a “public necessity” for such exemptions and they are usually not granted. Some legislators, though, keep trying. Today, Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers joins news media throughout the state in the fourth annual “Sunshine Sunday,” an event coordinated by the Florida Society of Newspaper Editors and the First Amendment Foundation to bring attention to the need to keep public access to public records and meetings and to challenge those who would seek to deny access. Nationwide, the American Society of Newspaper Editors has designated this week as “Sunshine Week.” This is not solely a news media issue. The media have no more right to access than any private citizen. The public’s right to know what government is doing is critical to a free democracy, whether citizens get that information from the media or they get it directly from original sources themselves. That is the invaluable goal of “government in the sunshine.” Let us work together to assure that the sun keeps shining on government in the Sunshine State.
Reproduced courtesy
of Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers. |
