From the Raleigh News & Observer (3/19/09): For the past several years, this week in March has been noted, and even celebrated, by those in the business of news and opinion as "Sunshine Week," wherein newspapers, including The News & Observer, offer stories on the benefits of the people's access to their own business.
That sounds kind of obvious, I suppose, when you look at it in print. The people have a right to know what their various levels of government are doing in their names? Why, of course. How could it be any different?
And yet, most of those of us who have been reporters can recount times when we’ve been shut out of this meeting or that for the simple reason that those in power preferred to conduct what they mistook as their business (instead of the public’s business) behind closed doors. Long ago, I was asked to leave a meeting of some government agency so that the participants could go into “executive session,” which means in secret. I refused, and asked what business it was that the leaders of the aforementioned agency wished to discuss. Instead of having me escorted to jail, they adjourned and got together later, unannounced, by themselves.
That story is offered not as some example of professional bravery – it’s happened to virtually everyone in this business – but to illustrate that for some reason that is never adequately explained, there are those in elected and appointed office who just don’t think they have to let people in on what they’re doing, even though they often are doing it on the public’s dime.
The N.C. Press Association used to keep track of all the examples of secrecy, and may still do so, and the compilation at one point filled up some spiral notebooks several inches thick.
On occasion, it has turned out that shenanigans have been in progress behind those closed doors, be it real estate deals or a cousin placed in a job by an office-holder or something of that nature.
But most of the time, it’s just bad judgment. Just that feeling that the pesky press doesn’t need to be exposed to the government sausage-grinder. Most of those in elected office, and I can speak only from my experience with them, are stand-up folks who want to do the right thing, or what they sincerely believe is the right thing.
In North Carolina, we have pretty good laws on open meetings and public records, and though it’s taken a while, governments at all levels have reached an understanding of those laws and if not exactly embraced them, at least tried to follow them. Not always, but most of the time.
And open government has had some boosters in the General Assembly. Marc Basnight, the president pro tem of the state Senate and arguably the most powerful lawmaker on Jones Street, doesn’t always get what he would consider “positive” coverage or commentary from the press. But at those times when open government has been on the table, Basnight has made it clear that he believes in it and has supported legislation that reinforces it.
This year, Gov. Beverly Perdue has emerged as a strong advocate for candor in government. She campaigned for her office with a pledge that she would be personally accessible to the media and would insist that her agency heads would do what they do in the wide open spaces.
On the whole, she has so far followed through, although given the challenges of a huge budget deficit, problems in the probation system and a massive chore awaiting to straighten out the mental health care structure, doubtless it would be easier to move some things along under the radar. It’s true there have been some disagreements over access, which perhaps there always will be. But Perdue is, for example, pushing a plan to make more details of state spending easily attainable on Web sites, and her administration has kept the public up-to-date on her schedule.
What’s happened as a result? The sky has not fallen. The locusts have not invaded the Capitol or the Legislative Building. A great darkness has not descended upon us. Because governing in the open, with the attitude that disclosure doesn’t hurt anyone except people who have something to hide, is easier in the long run. There’s no need to explain what went on behind closed doors, because the doors were open. Yes, if someone goofs up, sunshine can burn. But in the long run, it’s healthier for everybody.
by Jim Jenkins, News and Observer deputy editorial page editor