The Bradenton Herald

Friend of Sunshine

Gov. Crist committed to open government

For the first time in eight years, the press and public have a friend in the Governor’s Mansion when seeking open access to public records and meetings. It is an encouraging way to begin another legislative session in which misguided lawmakers will be trying their best to limit such access in order to serve special interests.

Gov. Charlie Crist is that friend. So responsive was he as attorney general to fight attempts to limit access to public records that the First Amendment Foundation in 2005 gave Crist the First Amendment Award. In Crist’s tenure as attorney general he had opposed a number of attempts by legislators to pass exemptions to Florida’s Sunshine Law. Since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks lawmakers at all levels have sought to exploit concerns over national security to deny the public access to data on a variety of subjects - most having little or nothing to do with national security.

Crist in fact began his administration as governor in January by fulfilling a campaign promise to establish the Office of Open Government within the Governor’s Office. Its mission is to enforce compliance with the state’s open-government laws. To enhance compliance, that office has designated employees in every state agency who are responsible for open-records compliance. It has also arranged for training of 500 top state agency managers in open-records compliance. That’s crucial to the goal, for often it is lack of employee knowledge, rather than hostility to the concept, that impedes access to records that should be legally open.

As has become a Florida tradition at this point in the year, today is Sunshine Sunday - a day designated by the Florida Society of Newspaper Editors on which Florida news media focus on the public’s right to access government records and meetings and expose efforts to limit that right. The effort becomes more daunting with each year, as the misguided notion that government knows best leads to increasing government secrecy. As we have seen time and time again, that mindset leads to favors to special interests at the expense of the public welfare.

For example, one of the big concerns of the First Amendment Foundation in the current session of the Legislature is HB 467, sponsored by Rep. Larry Cretul, R-Gainesville. It would exempt from the Sunshine Law any record revealing the name of a candidate or nominee for the position of CEO or designated corporate officer of a public hospital. It also would deny public access to the meetings of a search committee of a public hospital at which candidates for CEO or comparable corporate officer are being considered. While Manatee County no longer has a public hospital to which this law would apply, many other counties, including Sarasota, do. It would mean that all discussion related to hiring the director of tax-supported hospitals would be done in secret.

Worse, the FAF fears that this could be “the proverbial slippery slope” leading to requests for more exemptions. In a recent e-mail FAF asked: “What’s next? School board superintendents? University presidents?

Another potentially harmful bill, HB 1213 filed by Rep. William Proctor, R-St. Augustine, would exempt all personal identifying information in any public record held by any agency. That could cripple the press’ ability to investigate wrongdoing by public officials and/or organizations.

The press considers itself the watchdog for the public, the eyes and ears of people who are too busy or otherwise unable to personally monitor the actions of their elected and appointed officials. It has served in that role for as long as a free press has existed in this country. Yet you should understand that it is in your personal interest to have that ready access to these documents as well. You may want to check on the malpractice record of a physician who has been recommended for your upcoming surgery. Or the academic standing of a charter school you are considering for your child. Or the inspection record of that restaurant whose food you love. There are hundreds of potential records the average citizen may want to check out, via the convenience of the internet, in any given year. It is imperative that they remain accessible, as the founding fathers intended in passing the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights, which guarantees “the right of the people . . to petition the government for a redress of grievances” as well as preventing government from “abridging the freedom . . . of the press.” Without knowledge of government’s activities, obtained from free access to its records and deliberations, the public cannot effectively petition, nor can the press freely report on government’s actions.

Too often elected officials, once in power, claim ownership of the government they administer by virtue of their election. That is contrary to the Constitution’s description of “government of the people, by the people, for the people.”

Gov. Crist gets it, repeatedly referring to the people as “our bosses” and public service as “a precious gift.” We hope that spirit is contagious as legislators take up the many public records exemption bills on their agenda.

Reproduced courtesy of The Bradenton Herald.
Back to top | Return to fsne.org