Seattle PI: Across U.S., citizens fight for records

[DBoon]

Quote:

FALL RIVER, Mass. -- Ed Lambert, Al Lima and Mike Miozza never thought of themselves as activists, just regular guys. Then an energy company announced plans to build a liquefied natural gas terminal in this small community on the Taunton River. The men - the mayor, a city planner and an engineer - had nightmare visions of gas igniting into a huge fireball on the river, and asked for government-held reports that studied the threat to the town if the plant or a tanker were attacked.

But like many people who ask for government records these days, they didn't get what they were looking for. "It's a farce," Miozza says.

And it's happening across the country. To a Virginia homeowner seeking plans for a gas pipeline near his home. To Wyoming politicians worried about local dams. To an environmental group that wants the studies on 100-year floods and dam failures in a Southwest river canyon.

All asked for records, and all were turned down.

Link:

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apus_story.asp?category=1110&slug=Sunshine%20Week

[liberalhistorian]

1. SIGH.

"Secrecy is the first step to tyranny." Indeed.

[magellan]

2. It's also on Yahoo, vote it up!

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050313/ap_on_re_us/sunshine_week

[merwin]

3. Gotta love what this administration is doing to our country.

[soup]

4. Hello Sunshine Sunday! - leading to Sunshine Week 03/13-03/19

Sunshine Sunday

Transparency in government is vital to preventing abuses of power, but the Legislature continues to try to put more information out of the public's reach.

A Times Editorial
Published March 13, 2005

Open government isn't just an essential tool for journalists. It is the way the public holds government accountable - uncovering wrongdoing and acting as a check against the abuse of power. Citizens have a right to know what their elected leaders are doing with the power entrusted to them, whether they are using it to advance the public interest or special interests.

Without laws protecting the public's access to government records, we wouldn't know how much politicians are spending to build a road or what company won the contract. We wouldn't be told how much the chief of police makes or how often excessive force is used by his department. It is when government operates in secret that violations of the public trust are most likely to occur.

Since 2002, newspaper editorial pages across the state have banded together in an annual "Sunshine Sunday" to remind readers of the vital function served by transparency in government. This year, "Sunshine Sunday" has gone national. Newspapers, broadcasters and other media across the nation will spend this entire week speaking to the need to keep government records accessible and meetings open.
http://www.sptimes.com/2005/03/13/Opinion/Sunshine_Sunday.shtml

[UpInArms]

5. Kalamazoo: Public's right to know is being eroded

http://www.mlive.com/news/kzgazette/index.ssf?/base/columns-1/111071302561330.xml

excerpt:

This is Sunshine Week, a time to reflect on the state of governmental openness and rededicate ourselves to resisting the further erosion of citizens' right to know.

We are concerned that, in many spheres, officials are no longer deciding what to disclose based on the public's presumed right to know, but on what the public merely needs to know, in the judgment of officials.

That is an attitude that is paternalistic at best and dangerous at worst.

Why is this happening? Certainly the terror attacks of 9-11 have accelerated the trend of officials disclosing less and less information because of national security concerns. And an American public frightened of terrorism sometimes has been too willing to give up many of its rights -- the right to know what government is doing, the right to privacy, the right to due process.

But officials' growing unwillingness to release information to the public started before 9-11.

...more...

[struggle4progress]

6. kick