A little spring sunshine after a long winter can do wonders for the mind, body and spirit.
It is energizing and restorative.
A different sort of "sunshine" imparts similar uplifting effects to governmental bodies ? state, federal and local. This is the sunshine generated by the Freedom of Information Act, which turns 40 this year. Its light penetrates the darkest crannies of government offices, abhors secrets and prompts leaders to conduct the public's business in public.
But the law isn't perfect or uniform. Different states set different rules for public meetings and public documents. Some of these state laws, including the one in Tennessee, lack teeth or effective enforcement measures.
And in spite of the law, government still operates in secret at least part of the time ? revealing public information only when its hand is forced. On this, the second annual Sunshine Sunday, there is still more work to be done to insure that government operates in the open.
The Bush administration ? for better or for worse ? is one of the most secretive in years. Hiding behind the cloak of homeland security, the federal government seeks to keep a wide range of information to itself, including the names of hundreds of detainees held in a U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay. The Associated Press asked for the names under the federal Freedom of Information Act four years ago, eventually winning in federal court earlier this month.
But the sort of information that government leaders and public officials would rather keep to themselves isn't limited to sensitive data related to the fight against global terrorism. The Virginia General Assembly tried to exempt itself from open meeting act requirements two years ago, a measure that was rightfully rebuffed. But state lawmakers add other exceptions to the state open records law on a regular basis, including a loophole inserted last year to benefit Bristol Virginia Utilities.
Tennessee lawmakers, meanwhile, don't have to meet in public when they hammer out the state budget or anything else. That?s the opinion of the state attorney general, issued as the state legislature prepares to add financial penalties for violations of the state's Sunshine Law. In its present form, the law is all bark, no bite. The Legislature should approve the Sunshine Law rewrite, but it should do more. It should start the process to amend the state constitution to bring the Legislature under the open meetings law.
Locally, this newspaper used the Freedom of Information Act several times last year to gain important information that the public had a right to know. Information related to a teenager?s drowning at a public pool and a 15-year-old unsolved murder case was released in response to such a request.
It might be tempting to view the Freedom of Information Act as merely a tool of journalists, but it protects the rights of private citizens to question their government as well. Everyone has a right to know what goes on in government ? from the halls of Congress to town hall.
We?ll keep fighting to protect that right ? not just on Sunshine Sunday, but every day. Let the light shine on.