Government officials depend on citizens for a lot of things. They depend on citizens to vote for them, of course, at election time. They depend on citizens to cough up the tax dollars that keep government operating. And they depend on citizens to not give a hoot about Sunshine laws, to not care about meetings held behind closed doors and records withheld from public scrutiny.
It’s easy to shrug off Sunshine laws. After all, don’t such laws exist mainly for the media’s benefit?
No. Sunshine laws, or open-government laws, enable everyone to be better informed about what their representatives are doing, empowering them to play an active role in government at all levels. Sunshine laws help keep public officials honest, make government more responsive and sometimes reveal abuses of power.
Florida legislators know all of this, and last year they approved several bills that were friendly to open government and open records. Gov. Rick Scott signed one, for instance, ensuring the public’s right to speak at public meetings.
Another step toward openness was a package of ethics reforms championed by Senate President Don Gaetz, R-Niceville. Among other things, it required that lawmakers’ financial disclosure forms be posted online in a searchable database. This makes government more transparent.
Despite last year’s accomplishments, the current legislative session includes the usual menu of proposals to increase government secrecy. One of them — the subject of our Feb. 19 editorial — would ban the release of criminal suspects’ booking photos, or mug shots. These photos now are part of the public record. They should stay that way.
Another bill before the Legislature would restrict the public’s right to know the names of candidates for top jobs in public universities and colleges.
And so on. Without Sunshine laws and a public demanding candor, elected officials and government bureaucrats drift inexorably back into the shadows.
The shadows are not where city councils, county commissions, the Legislature and Congress should operate. That’s why Sunshine Week, which begins today, reminds Americans to push back against official secrecy. Government openness is a cornerstone of our nation.
