Sunshine week designed to shed light on the importance of open government

By Brittany Whitley

Published: March 15, 2008

National Sunshine Week begins today to shed light on the importance of freedom of information and open government.

“Sunshine week is not about journalism, it’s about good government,” said Debra Gersh Hernandez, coordinator of Sunshine Week. Journalists aren’t the only ones who need to know and understand “Sunshine Laws” and getting information from the government, she said

The purpose of “Sunshine Laws,” or freedom of information laws, is to make government more open and transparent. States have their own “Sunshine” and freedom of information laws where as the federal government has the Freedom of Information Act enacted in 1966.

“(It’s) about people being educated and empowered to use and obtain public information,” she said.

“It’s always good, to talk about these issues,” said James P. Pewett, lawyer at Johnston Barton Proctor & Rose LLP, who help construct the “Open Government Guide” Web site for The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. “Transparency is important.”

The focus of this year’s “Sunshine Week” initiative is campaigns.

The initiative has been asking participants to engage candidates, from presidential hopefuls to those running for city council, in questions about open government and freedom of information. They want to get candidates talking about issues surrounding freedom of information and open government, Hernandez said.

Alabama

As for Alabama, freedom of information law is simple and complicated.

“Well, the Alabama law sounds real simple, (it) says (people are) entitled to see state records upon request unless exempted by statue,” said Alabama Press Association general counsel Dennis Bailey, of Rushton, Stakely, Johnston and Garrett, P.A. “Most of the exemptions are scattered throughout the code like needles thru a haystack.”

Bailey said some exemptions include individual tax returns, Medicare records, banking records, trade secret information and criminal investigative information. Not all of the exemptions are located in one place.

“The public doesn’t really have to know them,” he said. The government shoulders the burden of proof to show what is exempt and what is not.

“If there is one (an exemption), the person you are going to usually knows them,” he said.

Bailey’s best advice to people is to assume it’s a public record unless the government shows you otherwise.

There has been talk of reforming to the freedom of information law in Alabama, both Pewett and Bailey said.

“Depending on who you talk to there are a lot of problems or none,” Bailey said. The law contains no procedures, deadlines or how to enforce or request a record, he added. “The law kind of leaves it to
individual.”

One problem arises with the “reasonable amount of time” aspect of the law.

A government agency has “a reasonable amount” of time to get the information requested to a recipient. There is no specification on what constitutes a “reasonable amount of time.”

“Areas like that cry out for some sort of reform or clarification,” Pewett said.

Each agency has their own set of rules and statues, he said.

Sunshine survey

A recent survey states that more people see the government as secretive and the majority of people want government officials to be more transparent on where they stand concerning open government when choosing whom to vote for, according to the Sunshine Week survey results by Scripps Howard News Service and Ohio University.

The survey included 1,012 adults and was commissioned by ASNE for Sunshine Week.

About 40 percent of respondents said local government was “somewhat open.”

Respondents said the same for state government.

The shift happened when respondents were asked about federal government, when 44 percent said they felt that the federal government was “very secretive.”

In the last three years, respondents believe the federal government has become more secretive.

The percentage jumped from 22 percent believing the federal government was “very secretive” in 2006 to 44 percent believing it was “very secretive” in 2008.

The majority of respondents, 60 percent, said a presidential candidate’s position on open government was “very important” when deciding on who to vote for.

The percentages were about the same for members of congress and state governments.

When asked the same question about city council or school board, almost 70 percent said it was “very important.“

USEFUL LINKS:

Alabama State Code: http://www.legislature.state.al.us/CodeofAlabama/1975/coatoc.htm

The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press open records guide: http://www.rcfp.org/ogg/

Alabama Center for Open Government: http://www.alacog.com

Sunshine Week: http://www.sunshineweek.org/

Open the Government: http://openthegovernment.org/

Citizen’s Campaign: http://www.jointhecampaign.com/pages/

DCWatch: http://www.dcwatch.com/