Let the sunshine in

Good people can, and often do, disagree. If that disagreement leads to an inability or unwillingness to communicate, the opportunity to come to reasonable resolutions can be lost. If, however, the disagreement leads to deeper discourse, it can lead to greater discovery and lasting solutions to the issues in question. Right now, the state of Connecticut is struggling to find the right balance between having open information and respecting the privacy of its citizens. The state’s freedom of information community is historically strong and, since 1975 when Connecticut’s freedom of information act was unanimously passed, has offered a model for the rest of the country and other nations to emulate. At this critical time, it’s to be hoped that through open communication and civil discourse some measure of cooperation can be hit upon among those in disagreement on the right path for the state to take. Since 1975, there has been plenty of testing of the FOI law, and even with that law in place, there were certainly governmental abuses that took some time to come to light. (Remember the administration of John Rowland, for instance?) How much worse will such abuse be with the FOI act being modified by the Legislature to include more exceptions to transparency? Valuing the people’s right to know is the route to take now, renewing Connecticut’s role as a leader in freedom of information. This is Sunshine Week, an annual recognition of the importance of open government and open information. This week grew out of the 2002 launching of a series of Sunshine Sundays in Florida by that state’s society of newspaper editors in response to the attempts of their Legislature to create hundreds of new exemptions to the state’s open information and public records laws. The initiative then was successful. Florida retained its strong freedom of information laws, and the next year the cause was taken up by the American Society of News Editors, then subsequently by the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. When it’s those in charge at any level of government who would prefer less scrutiny, it’s time for their constituents to take notice. While not all privacy should be ameliorated in this country, certainly, the need for openness in governmental and public policy is critical to the functioning of a democracy. The first instinct of a government official should be to say “yes” to anyone seeking to obtain public documents, not to look for all the possible ways to deny such a request. Why should there be a need to fight to keep governmental openness in the public awareness when so much information is in the public arena every minute of every day? Because it’s the less obvious information that is kept secret behind all the noise of constant communication that can be the most important in keeping our rights as U.S. citizens secure. Go to www.sunshineweek.org to see more information and commentary on the need for all to be vigilant in gaining and maintaining strong freedom of information laws in Connecticut and across the nation.