I have to admit, that as the daughter of two former college professors, the flap over using FOIA to gain access to professors' emails makes me a bit queasy.

I know. Sounds hypocritical, doesn't it?

Last year and this year bills were introduced in the Virginia General Assembly that would allow government to get a court order against a citizen it felt was harassing the government through FOIA. Both bills originated from situations in small localities where a lone clerk -- part-time, at that -- was getting too many FOIA requests from the same person and was unable to get other work done.

Last year, the bill was sent to the FOIA Council for study, but no consensus could be reached. This year the bill was killed in subcommittee.

In this article from the Northwest Herald in Illinois, I've learned that we are not alone. 

Bills in this year's Illinois legislature would (a) double the time required to make a response under FOIA; (b) dilute power of the AG to review open records issues; (c) remove public notices from newspapers; and (d) allow the government to deem someone who files more than 15 FOIA requests in a year "vexatious."

I'm passionate about open government. About what it means to our country. About what it means to citizens and to democracy.

Working at the Virginia Coalition for Open Government for over a decade, I've met a lot of other people whose passion for open government's ideal far exceeds mine. Most often these are everyday citizens. Sometimes they are reporters, editors, broadcasters.

And more and more often, the folks I'm hearing from -- the ones whose commitment to open government is so strong it's almost palpable -- are elected officials.

That politicians are passionate about open government ideals is not a trend. There have always been dedicated souls who believe that the government's best work is done in the open.

What I would say is a trend, though, is the increase in the number of these folks are calling VCOG to talk.