The Daily Commercial

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Editorial cartoon by Gene Packwood

Sunshine Sunday editorial

From The Daily Commercial, serving Lake and Sumter counties.

Contact: Jim Witters, Managing Editor

(352) 365-8250 or jimwitters@dailycommercial.com

Quick.

Name 10 politicians you trust to police themselves with no public scrutiny.

OK, name five.

Still too tough?

Now you know why our public records and open meetings laws are so important. Called the Government in the Sunshine Law and other names, these constitutional and legislative provisions ensure that we Floridians can monitor the spending, voting and other official actions of those we allow to act on our behalf in Tallahassee and in county seats and municipal chambers across the state.

And each year, legislators come up with new ways to try to undermine its intent and effect by promoting exemptions to the open records laws and the prohibition against secret meetings by elected officials.

In November, Floridians affirmed their belief in open government by amending the state constitution to require support of two-thirds of the Legislature before new exemptions can become law.

Yet, new attempts already are attracting legislators this session. Bills seeking more than 30 new exemptions have been filed so far.

Some exemptions are legitimate. They protect personal information that should remain private. And they protect information that criminals or terrorists may use to cause harm.

But other exemptions merely protect a certain group of individuals or businesses. For example, legislators keep introducing bills to exempt disclosure of mistakes made by doctors and pharmacists. Surely, that is information consumers need to better assess their health care professionals.

We — the public and the press — need access to government records and meetings.

In a nation founded on the principal that the government is of the people, by the people and for the people, we are the government.

The notion that the government holds the authority to grant us access to something that belongs to us is an odd one.

Governments hold no power. They supply no rights. The power and the rights belong to the people.

The people grant power and rights to the governments, not the other way around. And oversight of those governments rests with the people the governments were created to serve.

Open records and open meetings are essential to the proper oversight of government entities.

The medium you choose as your news source represents you at government meetings, in seeking access to government records, in serving as watchdog over government functions. Journalists are at the meetings because our readers cannot be there.

Without access, we cannot effectively represent your interests. And, without access, there would be nothing you could do about it.