Sunshine Week 2008

EDITORIAL: Let the sunshine in

Sunshine cures winter doldrums and democracy. This is Sunshine Week. It might only come once each year, but voters have eight months to ask candidates questions about how they really feel about practicing democracy during the light of day, such as:

Questions for candidates running for jobs in Washington, D.C.:
1 What is your philosophy of government openness? How important is it to democracy?

2. According to a recent survey, two-thirds of American people believe that the federal government is somewhat or very secretive. Do you agree or disagree? If elected, how would you try to change it?

3. Do you favor late-night, unread amendments to bills?

4 If elected, would you sponsor a bill to allow the public to see a bill for 48 or 72 hours before its final vote is taken?

Questions for candidates running for jobs in St. Paul:
1 What is your philosophy of government openness? How important is it to democracy?

2. The 2007 session of the Minnesota Legislature ended in a late-night flurry. Amendments and bills were passed that had not been read. Do you favor banning this from happening again?

3. If elected, would you sponsor a bill to allow the public to see a bill for 48 or 72 hours before its final vote is taken?

Questions for candidates running for county, city, township and local offices:
1. What is your philosophy of government openness? How important is it to democracy?

2. Citizens are sometimes surprised by items coming up that are not part of the publicly announced meeting agenda. Do you agree or disagree with voting on items if they are not on the publicly announced agenda?

3. If elected, would you support your meetings airing or continuing to air on public access TV? Newspapers are often called the “fourth estate,” and serve a public purpose to watch the three branches of government — legislative, executive and judicial — and report to citizens.

During the past year, we’ve seen elected folks make decisions on items not on a publicly announced agenda. This is easy to fix, but it happens at every level including townships, city, county, schools and political party conventions. Whatever your political stripe, remember to ask candidates who ask for your vote, “If elected, will you be open?”

Sunshine Week, March 16 to 22
Sunshine Week is nonpartisan and supported by conservatives and liberals. It is a national campaign to shine the light on the importance of open government and freedom of information. It is led by the American Society of Newspaper Editors and funded primarily by a challenge grant by the John L. Knight Foundation.

It began in 2002 in Florida as Sunshine Sunday. Newspapers wrote about an effort by Florida lawmakers to create about 300 exemptions to open government laws in the sunshine state. These exemptions were defeated after three Sunshine Sundays.

Sunshine week is about the public’s right to know what its government is doing, and why.