Let the Sunshine in
By By Leada Gore, Editor
Years ago, I covered a city council that was notorious for meeting behind closed doors. Alabama law allowed for certain topics – namely someone’s good name and character – to be talked about in private. This group, however, decided it liked to do the bulk of their business in private, including the purchase of property or the hiring of a new police chief.
There was a flaw in their plan, however. This particular city council met in a municipal annex that had once been a church. The council’s meeting room, from which we were banned during improper executive sessions, was located next to a restroom. The acoustics were such that if you walked into the women’s restroom and listened carefully, you could hear the council’s entire discussion through the air vents. The reporters – at least the female ones – would just sit in the restroom with our notepads and learn all we wanted to know about that meeting’s particular topic.
A bit extreme? Sure, but there are times when you have to do what you have to do.
Not that you should have to, of course.
This week is Sunshine Week. It’s led by the American Society of News Editors and is designed to raise awareness of the importance of open government and access to information. It encourages us all to take part in the functions of our government and to work to make sure all such information remains public.
In recent years, Alabama has decided to ensure more sunshine permeates government through its strengthened Open Meetings law. Already one of the strongest in the nation, Alabama’s law requires the public and media to be notified of all meetings and makes it a misdemeanor to improperly meet behind closed doors.
There’s still work to be done. Alabama media representatives, both from print and broadcast, are working to pass legislation to prevent serial meetings. Serial meetings involve a single elected official meeting with another official, then another, then another, each separately, in an effort to bypass open meetings laws.
This week, I hope you will take advantage of your right to know and your responsibility to be involved with government. We all should have access to the information we desire and you shouldn’t have to listen through air vents to find out what you want to know.
