Date: 03-16-2015
Kentucky New Era
This is Sunshine Week, a national observance that encourages citizens, government employees, elected representatives and journalists to protect everyone’s right to know what public agencies are doing at every level — from the smallest town council all the way up to the White House, Congress and the Pentagon.
Consider those emails that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton conveniently shielded from public scrutiny by using a personal email account and a private computer server for government business. That’s why Sunshine Week and what it represents — the inseparable link between democracy and transparency — matter. Consider the agenda for Tuesday’s meeting of Hopkinsville City Council, which includes a request to approve $1.2 million in contracts for a downtown streetscape improvement project that uses federal grant money. It’s already available for anyone to see on the city’s website with a list of the contracts that council members will be asked to award, and that’s also why Sunshine Week matters.
In Kentucky, we rely on the state’s open meetings and open records law to ensure the public can see, hear and read most of what city, county and state agencies do on our behalf. Protecting those laws is crucial. We’re proud to say that a former New Era publisher — the late Robert C. Carter — was influential in the adoption of the state sunshine laws when he was president of the Kentucky Press Association in the early 1970s. Today the press association provides a legal hotline that this newspaper and others use frequently to ensure that print media have timely advice on how we can use the sunshine laws to report stories that keep the public informed — often when government employees don’t want to release information or open meetings to public scrutiny.
Newspaper journalists are typically the most vocal advocates for state sunshine laws and the federal Freedom of Information Act, but it is important during this special week to encourage everyday folks to use the laws. You have that right, and there are resources available through the Office of the Kentucky Attorney General to help you learn how the laws apply to specific questions you might have. A publication titled “Your Right to Know” guides citizens through the laws and provides instructions on how to file an open records request or submit a complaint if you believe an agency has violated the open meetings law. There is a companion publication for Kentucky’s local and state elected officials titled “Your Duty Under the Law.”
Only under specification exemptions outlined in the sunshine laws may government officials deny your access to records and meetings.
There are many public officials who recognize the importance of transparency in their work. It’s not easy working under public scrutiny, so we applaud those elected officials and agency employees who work hard to abide by Kentucky’s sunshine laws.
Others who have the privilege of doing the public’s business do not always recognize or respect what the law says they must do to remain transparent. It’s up to the news media and citizens to insist that they do.
