Two weeks ago we ran an editorial focused on the 10 commandments for open meetings, in time for Sunshine Week, March 13-19. Basically, the premise is that good comes from transparancy.
The quote from Walt Whitman, “I think heroic deeds were all conceived in the open air,” announced the editorial.
It’s a statement that still needs to be taken to heart by local officials.
Hays CISD might have its attorneys say, “Sure, that’s approved to be discussed in executive session.”
The cities of Kyle and Buda might go into closed sessions, as does Hays County, for personnel, real estate or discussions on litigation.
But can some of these discussions – even when officials are tempted and “approved” to talk in closed session – actually be better in public? Would there be less controversy, less suspicion of government officials if the public actually witnessed discussions, rather than assuming the worst?
A South African newspaper editor, Anton van Syl from the newspaper the Limpopo Mirror, wrote his own preface to the same guest editorial. But his intro was poignant.
Van Zyl has been with the Zoutpansberger and Limpopo Mirror for more than 21 years, and is a graduate of the University of Johannesburg (formerly Rand Afrikaans University), with a degree in Communications. He is also the founder of the Associaition of Independent Publishers.
Van Zyl writes:
Across the big waters, where 50 states once combined to form a federal republic, the citizens this week celebrate Sunshine Week. Sunshine Week, however, is nothing like a typical South African Easter holiday at the South Coast where you just lie around baking in the sun. In the USA, it is a national initiative to promote dialogue about the importance of open government and freedom of information.
In our own country, still battling to get to grips with the responsibilities that a democratic society brings, we should perhaps consider having our own version of a Sunshine Week. We need to focus on the importance of transparency and the ordinary citizens’ right to information. We need to say to the politicians, the municipal officials, the sports organisers and even to the often secretive church bodies that the light must at all times shine on their activities. Plans made in the dark can only be evil and we don’t accept excuses for a lack of transparency anymore.
His final sentence so well wraps up the very reason that Sunshine Week was founded in March 2005, with funding from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
Excuses for lack of transprency should not be acceptable.
Government officials should look for reasons to discuss ideas and programs in public – rather than looking for excuses to automatically go into closed sessions.
At some point, bureaucratic attorneys advising governmental entities to go talk in private need to understand that this lack of transparency is what drives the political crazies to extremes.
Let’s shine light on government. Don’t be scared to stand up and say, “Let there be light.”
