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Sun doesn't always shine on Florida's public records, meetings By BILL KACZOR Associated Press Writer PENSACOLA, Fla. (AP) — Florida has been a leader in bringing public meetings and records into the "sunshine," but citizens still can find themselves shaded out by officials who violate the state's open-government law. Lack of education and lax enforcement are the biggest obstacles to full compliance with Florida's "stunningly good" sunshine law, said Barbara Petersen, president of the First Amendment Foundation, a media-backed advocacy group. "The law is violated every day," Petersen said in a telephone interview from her Tallahassee office. "I would say the vast majority of those violations are unintentional." Violations usually happen when citizens are asked to explain why they want to see public records, put their requests in writing or meet other unlawful requirements, Petersen said. "Too many people working for government, whether they're at the state level or local government, simply don't understand what the law requires," she said. Thirty Florida newspapers tested compliance last year by sending reporters and other employees, all posing as ordinary citizens, to 234 state and local government offices. They asked to see such records as 911 call logs, job reviews and cell phone bills. Agencies responded to 43 percent of the requests with unlawful demands or just refused to turn over public records. In 2003 a state mediation program handled 149 sunshine complaints and resolved 110, or 74 percent, according to Pat Gleason, general counsel in the Attorney General's Office. "Most agencies want to respond rather than litigate," Gleason said. "Sometimes the best way to resolve a mediation is to get the right person in the agency involved." The most outrageous case she could recall was a state university that wanted to charge a student hundreds of dollars for time spent by top administrators reviewing the public records he requested and then blocked his registration when he couldn't pay. It was resolved when the university dropped the charge to $15 for copying, Gleason said. Most mediation is over public records, where issues are fairly black and white, rather than open meetings violations, often a gray area. Citizens also can file lawsuits and prosecutors or grand juries can bring criminal charges. Prosecutions, however, are rare, seldom more that three or four a year, and jail time even more unusual. Most involve open meeting violations. "Even though the prosecutors have the authority to go after this kind of stuff they just don't," Petersen said. Buddy Jacobs, general counsel for the Florida Prosecuting Attorneys Association, said he was unaware of any valid complaints that have been ignored but pointed out prosecutors must be able to prove cases beyond a reasonable doubt. "There's been some very vigorous prosecutions," Jacobs said, citing recent cases in Escambia County. Former Florida Senate President W.D. Childers made history last year by becoming the first person to serve a complete jail sentence for Florida sunshine violations. They were committed while he was an Escambia County commissioner. The Pensacola Republican broke the law by discussing public business — redistricting and county building projects — privately with other commissioners. He served 49 days of a 60-day sentence after getting time off for good behavior. Childers, 71, also was convicted on unrelated bribery charges and sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison but is free pending appeal. Three other Escambia commissioners were convicted or pleaded no contest to sunshine violations, also for secret meetings. None received jail terms and one committed suicide before he could be sentenced. The only other official jailed for a sunshine violation also was from Escambia, but school board member Vanette Webb never finished her 30-day sentence in 1999. She was freed after seven days when a new judge reversed her conviction for withholding records from a parent. An appellate court later reinstated her conviction. The judge then ordered a new trial, but prosecutors dropped the charge in 2003 because Webb was out of office and had served time. The First Amendment Foundation's "Government-in-the-Sunshine Manual," is Florida's open-government Bible, but at 394 pages it is cumbersome and hard to use. It cannot be simplified because courts use it as a legal authority and it grows annually with new exemptions. Last year, lawmakers passed 14 exemptions including some to keep confidential certain information about blueprints, surplus lands and computer passwords. The foundation also has an easier to understand eight-page pocket guide and has plans for mini-manuals, each focusing on an a single topic such as education or local government. They will be patterned after a law enforcement guide created by the attorney general's office. Petersen said agencies should look to the foundation, which puts on free seminars, or the Attorney General's Office for help rather than their own lawyers, who often lack sunshine expertise or may be worried about telling officials something they don't want to hear. "I've had county attorneys call me up and say `Can you please tell them this because I can't,' " she said. "Another part of the problem is they just don't get it."
On the Net: First Amendment Foundation: www.floridafaf.org |
