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TechnoratiA Government That's Open, Accessible and Responsive
Democratic government is built on the foundation that its power and authority rest with the people. To preserve that power, citizens absolutely must have information about the actions and activities of their government - through the news media's watchdog role and through access to public records and meetings.
In Washington state, we have strong public-access laws citizens themselves put in place in the 1970s by using their power of initiative. The preamble of one of those laws - the state Open Public Meetings Act - makes clear citizens' intent:
"The people of this state do not yield their sovereignty to the agencies which serve them. The people, in delegating authority, do not give their public servants the right to decide what is good for the people to know and what is not good for them to know. The people insist on remaining informed so they may retain control over the instruments they have created."
All public officials, the media and individual citizens share a deep responsibility to make sure that the preamble is valued and that public-access laws remain strong.
Judge Damon Keith, of the 6th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, said: "Democracies die behind closed doors."
Elected and appointed officials have a fundamental obligation to keep government's doors wide open to the public. Yet, legitimate concerns about personal privacy and identity theft have created a rush by government to close information to the public. Citizens' right to information has become a question of whether or not the public needs it.
That must never be the question.
To me, the fundamental question boils down to: Whose government is it?
It's ours.
Most public employees are honest, hardworking and dedicated to doing the right thing. But, some agencies simply don't want to be bothered. It is easier for them to deny a public-records request, for example, than to take the time to fulfill it.
We also see instances in which public officials deliberately shut the doors and run a government as if it were their own private club.
For all of us in government, we must never forget whom we work for.
Thomas Jefferson said: "Where the press is free, and every man able to read, all is safe."
The First Amendment recognizes the critical role the news media play in their vigilant scrutiny of government and their reporting of information citizens need to stay abreast of actions and policies that affect their daily lives.
The continued concentration of media ownership legitimately raises concerns about press bias and independence. Also, technology that enables anyone with a computer to become a mass communicator raises doubts about the truth and accuracy of some information.
Media owners must remember that the bedrock of our democracy is formed on the press' responsibility to provide a fair, complete and accurate account of government activities. It is up to the media to cover the news and uncover issues. They must ask the hard questions and seek the truth.
To fulfill our own constitutional responsibility, the Office of State Auditor regularly audits and reports on government stewardship over public resources. And, while we do not have enforcement powers, we are able to shine the public light of day on conditions we find. We report our work broadly, and often find the media and citizens using it to further discussion on a wide range of issues.
President John Adams said: "Liberty cannot be preserved without a general knowledge among the people, who have a right and a desire to know."
Individual citizens have a civic duty to keep informed and to actively participate in their government. Complacency and apathy are enemies of accountability.
I define accountability as government being open, accessible and responsive to people. Government must listen to citizens, and when it talks to people, it must tell them the truth.
Open, accessible government is the soul of our democracy. It breeds citizen trust and confidence in their government. But, that trust is fragile.
It is never wrong to open government's doors and let the people in.
Brian Sonntag is the Washington state auditor.
Copyright © 2007 The Seattle Times Company
24 Comments so far
Show AllOpen and responsive government? Yeah all those emails get a curt, polite, and no response from my reps, senators, executive branches.
For the people, of the people, by the people have been marginalized. It is a government for the corporations, by the corporations, and FOR the corporations. Look at the contributions to both party candidates. Dems and Repubs are bought, owned and owing to the corporations.
Politics is just a puppet show, pick the lesser of 2 evils, when your vote should go to someone that will represent the people and not the corporations. Vote on your needs, not corporations needs. Take the government back from them and put it back in the hands of WE THE PEOPLE.
Willybill and Daniel,
Thanks for the suggestions. If the Dems really did more than not be a proud conservative and explained how they would make an open and not a secret government, they might move me.
They have a year to put that promise with them on the ballot...I hope they get to work on it.
Jim Glover asks:
Any practical suggestions that would move the people here?
Yes, I have one. Let's focus on un-electing the "conservatives." That's done, of course, by voting for someone who is actually on the ballot, who does not mention being proud of being a "conservative."
Jim Glover...I hate to rain on your parade, but it's going to take more than "suggestions" to move the American people. Myriad suggestions have been made on this blog and a thousand others. No one is moving. The ideas are there..our citizens need a boot in the ass. We just watched two priests go to jail for kneeling and praying in protest. WHAT is it going to take to move the American people, may I say with all due respect, is the more appropriate question.
Let me take a shot at tryin to be a peacemaker for a minute here.
Many here sound impatient with any calls for an open government and want to scrap everything but offer no practical way of what to do like how to scrap it all and what to replace it with...maybe a computer battle of put downs? Please lets try and be constructive in criticisms and views here.
If you hate politicians and political parties, imagine that you were a leader and talk about what steps you would advocate to make a better world.
Now Daniel David makes some pretty good sounding promises if we elect a whole lot more Democrats.
The problem is we don't trust promises of politicians much so if you could get all the Dems who are running to make open government their torch to bear, I would like to here it from the politicians themselves and maybe they could get me to vote for one of them ...not in the primary but the real election. As it stands now I am ready to write-in Tom Jefferson as a protest vote that will count as a virtual "none of the above".
Chunga's Revenge, OK we know about Dennis already...we don't need to be reminded anymore.
I want All the Dems to talk about how we are gonna take the country back and throw out Bush's new fascist orders that the Dems themselves are rubber stamping.
I don't want to scrap the constitution...that is Bush's job.
Any practical suggestions that would move the people here?
Hazmat: ROFL!
Daniel David October 18th, 2007 2:20 pm
"You want sunshine laws? Elect Democrats, lots of them,"
You mean like Nancy Pelosi and her telling us all that Bush was breaking the law when spying on us? Oh yeah, that's right she never said a word.
Or mabe you mean Bill Clinton's openness about the details of the NAFTA agreement? That didn't happen either.
Lobo Gris
#
hazmat October 18th, 2007 3:42 pm
"(must…stop…feeding…troll…)"
LOL :-)
Read the first line of Brian's well intentioned scratch. Elitist blather, wrong and immaculently polished. Don't be fooled, the press has never been free.
Our form of Government is broken; warts and all, and has been since it's inception. This flawed foundation doesn't require a new template of what it should be, instead the project should be scrapped, hopefully without bloodshed. The task at hand is wrenching equality back from the worst of human instincts to an improved form of freedom provided by the efficiency of digital participation.
Nice article. Hits the nail right on the head.
Maybe, if we are lucky, Dick Cheney will come out of man-sized safe in his undisclosed location, removed from the Google Earth database, surrounded by his armed "private security force" which is assisted by the US Secret Service and allow the citizens he is supposed to be working for, to actually physically approach him and give it to him, so he can read it.
But I don't think it will happen....
So many tears. So much sadness.
Hopelessness is the greatest pain of all.
Don't claim that real Christians want to destroy the earth. That is the job of hypocrites.
If you really read the Bible you would find that Adam was put in the garden to tend it, not turn it into a toxic waste dump.
The hypocrites that claim to be Christian, hate the poor, claim racism is biblical, and prematurely end unbelievers time of grace with wars, shortening the time they have to come to faith.
Jesus said blessed are the peacemakers. Open, honest government goes a long way towards peace.
Cat October....Huh? Where are you?
By Paul Brown, AlterNet. Posted October 10, 2007.
Scientists 'stunned' by Arctic ice behaviour
Margaret Munro, CanWest News Service
Published: Wednesday, October 03, 2007 Check this out!
Well, the biggest problem's not the sea level rising [and that's a BIG problem] but that all that fresh water being injected into the ocean changes the salinity [which changes the density of the water] This, in turn, affects the "thermohaline circulation" in the world's oceans.
[See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermohaline_circulation for a description of this global phenomena, and also see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shutdown_of_thermohaline_circulation for a description on why this is not a good thing.
The gist of the problem is that (1) global weather is an interrelated system (2) arguably, the biggest player in that system [the ocean] is changing more rapidly than any model has predicted, and (3) nobody has any idea wtf is going to happen.
-----------------------------------
Once I told a woman that we were the dirtiest animals on the planet. She got real huffy since she was a bible bumper and thinks that God gave us this planet to mess it up anyway we please and is going to come and save us from our sins. Maybe so but not until mother gets through with us. That is not going to be pretty or fun.
So I suppose we have two choices....high ground or build an ark.....I'm for high ground....The question is weather we are going to find a bunch of Black shirts guarding the rich and famous when we pull up on the new beaches of Utopia? You don't think they are going to be nice or compassionate do you? They are going to do what they have always done. Take what they want throw crumbs to the fools willing to work for them (that's most of us) and eliminate anyone who dares to have an opinion contrary to their global plan!
Stop, Stop, Stop, buying their shit! If you don't get what I'm saying then get a clue.....See fight club....We are all playing with a marked deck. Find a way to walk away from the game. Walk now! Forget the blah blah. The they's aren't going to do a thing until we make it clear we are off their tit. They can sink or swim with the rest of us. What would you do if you were swimming for shore and one of the elect wanted to climb on your head? That's how it is!
Democracies die when they're representative.
(must...stop...feeding...troll...)
If you're a Kucinich supporter I urge you to go to http://democracyforamerica.com/pulsepoll and vote for DFA to support Kucinich for president. Sorry for the cross posting.
hazmat,
We didn't get The White House yet, and we need it very badly. Executive orders and control of agencies is a big, big deal. 2006 was good. But not good enough.
RusSCF,
FCC regulations are also another reason to fill
Washington with Democrats. We should not have to buy Cable in packages of channels, and we should not have to endure any of them without a Fairness Doctrine.
The conundrum was that Jefferson and his pals believed in a free press, but in modern America, you have to pay for the ink and paper to use it.
Unfortunately, there are very few media owners anymore, thanks to the gutting of FCC regulations in the last decade or so, and they have very little interest in their responsibilities or seeking the truth.
re daniel david 2:20pm:
we elected lots of democrats in 2006, enough to give them the majority. exactly what has changed for the better?
This author opens with the following first line:
"Democratic government is built on the foundation that its power and authority rest with the people."
The corollary to that is:
"Republican government is built on the foundation that somebody more powerful (and allegedly smarter) than you ought to make the decisions, and keep as many of them secret from you as possible.
You want sunshine laws? Elect Democrats, lots of them,
because you'll find in most of our history that Republicans are not noted for either enacting or being eager to follow the "sunshine" concept.
I'm afraid the day for civics lessons is over and the process rendered hypothetical.
The failure of the population to see the need for vigilance as counselled time and again by our founding fathers has rendered such exercises moot.
As aresult we have a fascist state controlled by a corporate oligarchy- no more, no less.
the world as it should be, not as it is.
far too many of our fellow citizens seem not to want to know at all; far too many more think they know, but since they've been getting their "facts" from citizen kane---er, murdoch---don't.
meanwhile, for the remainder, shrub and darth cheney have the power to classify evidence of their many crimes as "state secrets." the prisons are filled with folks who wish they had a gig like that.