Naples Daily News

First came Sunshine Sunday.

Then Sunshine Week.

But this is no spring break.

It is a spring into action for advocates of the sunshine of democracy in action, the sunshine of open government via open records and open meetings.

Smart public officials understand the advantages of conducting the public's business in the brightest possible sunshine. It lets everyone see their good work, as it takes shape. It wards off undue influence by special interests.

Other public officials, who prefer working in the shadows, see sunshine as an obstacle - an annoyance.

Sunshine Week, which kicks off today - Sunshine Sunday - at news media operations throughout the nation, calls attention to The Public's Right To Know _ a notion not celebrated in most other countries or even in parts of our own.

That Right To Know counts on the very same public vigilance that it allows, because it is not written in stone in any single place. It starts with the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, then is subject to national, state and local governments to decide its daily application. How much public access to meetings and records is to be allowed _ or, more to the point, allowed without a fight by a vigilant press and public - is for them to decide.

Here we make an important point that cannot be made too often: Media and public access are one and the same. Journalists have no access not possessed by other citizens.

The American Society of Newspaper Editors puts it this way: "Sunshine Week is not about journalists; it's not about partisan politics. It's about the public and the importance of protecting and promoting open government.

"Sunshine Week is not about protecting journalists' rights; it's about the right of all citizens to know what their government is doing _ and why.''

All of us can think of poor decisions, disregarding the public interest, made by our own local government boards. Chances are, the discussion leading to those decisions was held in less than full public view.

The late-night 1998 decision by the Estero fire board remains a sunshine classic - to get rid of unionized firefighters.

The Collier County School Board has toyed with the idea of holding meetings off to the side - with the TV cameras turned off yet with the public still allowed to come and see - after formal board meetings. Why? So members could assess their performance and look ahead to other business. That idea, once exposed to public scrutiny, has been shelved.

Collier County government officials last year made this newspaper ask twice for a copy of a critical letter from then-Commission Chairman Fred Coyle to County Manager Jim Mudd about the subsequently demoted director of comprehensive planning.

A county advisory board earned a sunshine primer after its chairman asked an applicant for a vacancy to leave a public meeting while members discussed his chances.

Talks about turning the golf course at Riviera Golf Estates into condos were under way within Collier County government before community leaders came to the news media.

The Lee County public school system went astray last year when it paid $24,988.41 (anything $25,000 or above needs board approval) to the Southwest Florida Chamber for a survey gauging public opinion on a possible sales tax referendum. Then the school system - and then the chamber - wouldn't disclose the results. They finally did, amid media pressure. Though a tax seemed to have a so-so chance, the secrecy-tarnished idea has yet to reach the ballot box.

The City of Bonita Springs was coy with something as benign as plans for a fishing pier.

The governor and top legislative officials bent the state’s sunshine laws just this past week, meeting for a private dinner with a company eyeing Florida for a major relocation.

We have public records to thank for knowing where roads are coming and how much their construction - timely and otherwise - is costing taxpayers.

The advent of e-mail has opened new dimensions for communicating with constituents - as well as potential abuses made harder to track.

We see problems on a national level with gaining access to FEMA records in New Orleans. We see more fundamental problems with anti-terrorism and war security cited as reasons to withhold politically sensitive material.

The list of examples goes on and on.

Now you can see why Sunshine Sunday has been expanded to a week.

The topic and the impact is huge. It affects all of us, every day - in the Sunshine State.

Reproduced courtesy of the Naples Daily News.
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