The News-Press

Open records more important than ever

You are needed in the fight to preserve Florida's strong heritage of open government.
Newspapers across Florida and the country are observing today as “Sunshine Sunday,” kicking off a week-long effort to highlight the importance of open government, and the threats to it.
Specifically, we want to remind people of Florida's great pioneering tradition of open government, and that public records and public meetings laws are the living foundation of that tradition.
As always when the Legislature gathers in Tallahassee for its annual regular session, bills are in the works designed to limit your access to your government. Barbara A. Petersen, president of the First Amendment Foundation, based in Tallahassee, sums it up in characteristically blunt language: “It’s shaping up as a suck-o session.”
Well over 100 exemptions are being sought this session, more than last year with more expected. As always we will ask you to help us resist these impositions, which we will discuss in detail this week. Note that in past sessions, citizens have been able to help beat back the majority of serious threats to open government by calling legislators and making them focus on the issue, instead of letting these things slip through unnoticed.
A PUBLIC RIGHT
Open records and meetings are not just a media fetish. The rights involved are public rights, just as important to the individual citizen, the activist group, the crusading blogger or the interest group advancing its cause as they are to the news media.
We play a special role, of course, in using these records to bring information to the public.
For example, in 2005, we sued the government agencies twice seeking access to records we believed should have been public, but which were being withheld. We and two other Gannett papers in Florida sued the Federal Emergency Management Agency for records on their hurricane recovery efforts, a fight that continues. The Associated Press, E.W. Scripps Co., Media General Corp. and the Tribune Co., have joined us in that fight.
In another case we successfully petitioned the circuit court for records about a Guatemalan teenager who had been brought to this country and forced into slavery.
NEW MEDIA
But the shape of information media is changing.
People and organizations outside the mainstream media are participating in news-gathering and -sharing as never before, thanks to the Internet. Our own readers find increasing opportunities to use public records on the Internet, and they certainly expect us to use such opportunities to the fullest and provide them with a venue for these important discussions.
Our Web site, news-press.com, for example, gives us the opportunity to publish documents that might be too long for our print edition. This gives readers an unprecedented opportunity to view the basic documents for themselves, documents we sometimes have to fight for in court.
Our readers are among the independent information activists playing an increasing role in the news. They should be our partners in defending open government.
The Internet holds rich promise for open government. More government records are being put online every day, and citizens should support this practice lustily.
It is in your interest, and the interest of anyone who cares about government accountability, to urge our leaders in Tallahassee to keep public records public.CONTACT THEM
¸Sen. Burt Saunders, District 37, 338-2777 in Lee or 417-6220 in Collier; saunders.burt.web @flsenate.gov
¸Sen. Dave Aronberg, District 27, 338-2646; aronberg.dave.web @flsenate.gov
¸Sen. Mike Bennett, District 21, 225-3697; bennett.mike.web @flsenate.gov
¸Rep. Michael Grant, House District 71, 941-613-0914; michael.grant@myfloridahouse.gov
¸Rep. Paige Kreegel, House District 72, 941-575-5820; paige.kreegel@myfloridahouse.gov
¸Rep. Bruce Kyle, District 73, 335-2411; bruce.kyle@myfloridahouse.gov
¸Rep. Jeff Kottkamp, District 74, 344-4900; jeff.kottkamp@ myfloridahouse.gov
¸Rep. Trudi Williams, District 75, 433-6775; trudi.williams@myfloridahouse.gov
¸Senate President Tom Lee (850) 487-5072; lee.tom.web@flsenate.gov.
¸House Speaker Allan Bense, (850) 488-1450; allan.bense@myflorida house.gov.
¸Gov. Jeb Bush (850) 488-4441; jeb@ myflorida.com.

USING PUBLIC RECORDS
Here are some of the stories The News-Press reported in the past year that might never have been published without public records, which in some cases had to be fought for vigorously.
This is First Amendment journalism on behalf of our readers and visitors to news-press.com, where we are able to publish fuller versions of documents too lengthy for the newspaper.
¸FEMA
Early in 2005, we were investigating and analyzing the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s response to the four hurricanes tat devastated Florida in 2004. FEMA was stalling, refusing to release many of the documents, including a database of 600,000 Florida residents who received FEMA money after the storms.
Partnering with other Florida Gannett newspapers, we sued and won a partial victory. A federal judge ruled that many documents, including memos to the White House, must be released, but FEMA was allowed to withhold the aid database, which is crucial to our investigation. We have appealed to the 11th Circuit Court in Atlanta, and were joined recently by four other media organizations.
Meanwhile, we published several public service stories based on the thousands of FEMA documents we’ve won access to so far.
¸SLAVERY
Our investigation of the case of a 13-year-old Guatemalan girl living in slavery in Cape Coral showed that several government agencies responsible for child welfare had failed the girl. The only way to get the full story was to review her file at the Department of Children and Families, which works in secret under state privacy laws.
The News-Press petitioned the court for access to the records, arguing successfully that it was in the public interest to investigate the agency's performance. Our stories showed that the agency had lost part of the records and that the files were riddled with mistakes the agency admitted were evidence of shoddy operations.
The judge’s decision to open the records was a major First Amendment advance in itself. He said a more open child protection system will win more public support for the system and better results for abused children.
The News-Press stories led to community discussion and won public support for public and private agencies fighting human trafficking.
¸SECRET SURVEY
One of our toughest fights for public records in 2005 was with the Lee County school superintendent and the president of a local chamber of commerce.
The chamber had arranged with the school district do a telephone survey to assess support for a sales tax increase. The chamber would be paid $24,988, just $12 short of the amount that requires school board approval. The questions were loaded in favor of a tax increase, which the district favored.
The district denied our request for a list of survey questions, saying it was the chamber's property. The chamber president argued a chamber of commerce isn't subject to open records law. We insisted that the records of any work the chamber did for a public institution must be open to the public. Our threat to sue won release of the survey, and after our stories revealed the bogus nature of the project, the money was refunded to the school district.
¸FORGED DEEDS
Our reporter Mike Hoyem scrutinized hundreds of public documents to reveal a global scam. By studying deeds he discovered that dead people's identities were being used to steal valuable property in Southwest Florida. The stories resulted in investigations by the FBI and prosecutors. Judges ruled that property must be returned to the families of the dead property owners, laws have been proposed to curb the abuse, and readers learned about what can be done to them and how to protect their property.
¸NEGLECTED MIGRANT CAMPS
Our reporters used inspection reports to show that health and code enforcement officials weren't forcing the clean up of migrant farm worker camps even though they knew of squalid conditions. Two camps were closed and officials admitted they must work together better on the issue in the future.
¸SEX OFFENDERS NEAR SCHOOLS
Using public records and mapping software, reporters for The News-Press found 74 sex criminals, many of whom had raped or fondled children, living within 1,000 feet of schools or day cares. Our stories have prompted local and state officials to consider additional restrictions on where sex offenders are allowed to live.

Reproduced courtesy of The News-Press.
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