Sunshine critical in governing
Commentary
By Dick Hammerstrom, Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star
3.13.06
A FEDERAL APPEALS court ruled late last month that judges who keep judicial records from the public should stop it.
The opinion came from the 7th U.S. Court of Appeals in Chicago and the three-judge panel was unambiguous in its findings:
"We hope never to encounter another sealed opinion. What happens in the federal courts is presumptively open to public scrutiny. Judges deliberate in private but issue public decisions after public arguments based on public records.
"Any step that withdraws an element of the judicial process from public view makes the ensuing decision look more like fiat and requires rigorous justification."
That ruling came just days after another appeals court, in St. Louis, ruled that a judge was wrong in closing a courtroom during a victim's testimony in a 2003 rape trial.
"We have an open government, and secret trials are inimical to the spirit of a republic, especially when a citizen's liberty is at stake," the opinion from the 8th U.S. Court of Appeals said.
The cases do not establish any precedent for Virginia courts.
But judges throughout the commonwealth should take note and assure that courts--and all branches of government--should be open to the public and subject to scrutiny.
Just recently, in Caroline County, a judge sealed a settlement agreement in a wrongful-death lawsuit.
The lawyers asking for secrecy should have known better since it has been well-established in Virginia that such cases cannot be kept private.
The Virginia Supreme Court made it clear in its 1988 ruling:
"The public has a societal interest in learning whether compromise settlements are equitable and whether the courts are administering properly the powers conferred upon them."
The settlement eventually was disclosed, but only because newspapers filed motions to intervene in the case.
The cases point out the importance of openness in all aspects of government and why this week--Sunshine Week 2006--is important if the public's business is to remain transparent and open to those paying for it.
Courts, councils and cops work for the citizens and it's their taxes that are paying for the work.
That's why citizens should know how that money is being spent and how decisions are made.
Though the media often is at the forefront of open-government issues, private citizens have been gaining more interest--and clout--in demanding accountability.
In recent weeks, it was disclosed that Chesterfield County's administrator spent $18,100 on a charter flight to bring him back from a vacation in Kansas.
It was not a reporter who tracked down the expenditure. It was a citizen watchdog, who filed a Freedom of Information Act request for the documentation.
Last year, the leadership of the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries was dismantled after disclosures were made of lavish travel and spending by those in charge with almost no accountability.
It came about because a Nelson County man refused to sit still when the state agency wouldn't provide routine public information.
Those unanswered questions led to more questions until a state investigation disclosed the financial abuses.
A few years ago, a Roanoke mother doing her own research found that school officials were fudging on information it was sending to the state.
She found that data on school violence, drugs and arrests were being inaccurately reported, making the city schools appear safer than they actually were.
Citizen watchdogs also have more help available than ever before.
In the past decade, two groups--one a nonprofit organization and the other a state agency--have become available to assist those locked out of access.
The Virginia Coalition for Open Government is a nonprofit that works with citizens, journalists and governments to enhance openness in government.
Its Web site--opengovva.org--is loaded with information, including the most up-to-date compilation of court and advisory opinions dealing with access.
It recently published a "Citizens Pocket Guide of Virginia's Freedom of Information Act."
The Virginia FOI Advisory Council, a state agency, conducts FOIA educational workshops annually around the state and issues advisory opinions on FOIA topics to anyone who calls.
Its Web site is dls.state.va.us/groups/foiacouncil.htm and its toll-free phone number is 866/448-4100. Last year, it was called more than 1,600 times, mostly by citizens.
Newspapers and the Virginia Press Association will continue to challenge obstacles to open government as it has in the past.
But the citizen efforts are equally important, because they are the victims when government is not conducted in sunshine.
Dick Hammerstrom, a local news editor at The Free Lance-Star, is chairman of the Freedom of Information Committee of the Virginia Press Association.
Copyright 2006 The Free Lance-Star Publishing Company.
By Dick Hammerstrom, Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star
3.13.06
A FEDERAL APPEALS court ruled late last month that judges who keep judicial records from the public should stop it.
The opinion came from the 7th U.S. Court of Appeals in Chicago and the three-judge panel was unambiguous in its findings:
"We hope never to encounter another sealed opinion. What happens in the federal courts is presumptively open to public scrutiny. Judges deliberate in private but issue public decisions after public arguments based on public records.
"Any step that withdraws an element of the judicial process from public view makes the ensuing decision look more like fiat and requires rigorous justification."
That ruling came just days after another appeals court, in St. Louis, ruled that a judge was wrong in closing a courtroom during a victim's testimony in a 2003 rape trial.
"We have an open government, and secret trials are inimical to the spirit of a republic, especially when a citizen's liberty is at stake," the opinion from the 8th U.S. Court of Appeals said.
The cases do not establish any precedent for Virginia courts.
But judges throughout the commonwealth should take note and assure that courts--and all branches of government--should be open to the public and subject to scrutiny.
Just recently, in Caroline County, a judge sealed a settlement agreement in a wrongful-death lawsuit.
The lawyers asking for secrecy should have known better since it has been well-established in Virginia that such cases cannot be kept private.
The Virginia Supreme Court made it clear in its 1988 ruling:
"The public has a societal interest in learning whether compromise settlements are equitable and whether the courts are administering properly the powers conferred upon them."
The settlement eventually was disclosed, but only because newspapers filed motions to intervene in the case.
The cases point out the importance of openness in all aspects of government and why this week--Sunshine Week 2006--is important if the public's business is to remain transparent and open to those paying for it.
Courts, councils and cops work for the citizens and it's their taxes that are paying for the work.
That's why citizens should know how that money is being spent and how decisions are made.
Though the media often is at the forefront of open-government issues, private citizens have been gaining more interest--and clout--in demanding accountability.
In recent weeks, it was disclosed that Chesterfield County's administrator spent $18,100 on a charter flight to bring him back from a vacation in Kansas.
It was not a reporter who tracked down the expenditure. It was a citizen watchdog, who filed a Freedom of Information Act request for the documentation.
Last year, the leadership of the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries was dismantled after disclosures were made of lavish travel and spending by those in charge with almost no accountability.
It came about because a Nelson County man refused to sit still when the state agency wouldn't provide routine public information.
Those unanswered questions led to more questions until a state investigation disclosed the financial abuses.
A few years ago, a Roanoke mother doing her own research found that school officials were fudging on information it was sending to the state.
She found that data on school violence, drugs and arrests were being inaccurately reported, making the city schools appear safer than they actually were.
Citizen watchdogs also have more help available than ever before.
In the past decade, two groups--one a nonprofit organization and the other a state agency--have become available to assist those locked out of access.
The Virginia Coalition for Open Government is a nonprofit that works with citizens, journalists and governments to enhance openness in government.
Its Web site--opengovva.org--is loaded with information, including the most up-to-date compilation of court and advisory opinions dealing with access.
It recently published a "Citizens Pocket Guide of Virginia's Freedom of Information Act."
The Virginia FOI Advisory Council, a state agency, conducts FOIA educational workshops annually around the state and issues advisory opinions on FOIA topics to anyone who calls.
Its Web site is dls.state.va.us/groups/foiacouncil.htm and its toll-free phone number is 866/448-4100. Last year, it was called more than 1,600 times, mostly by citizens.
Newspapers and the Virginia Press Association will continue to challenge obstacles to open government as it has in the past.
But the citizen efforts are equally important, because they are the victims when government is not conducted in sunshine.
Dick Hammerstrom, a local news editor at The Free Lance-Star, is chairman of the Freedom of Information Committee of the Virginia Press Association.
Copyright 2006 The Free Lance-Star Publishing Company.
