Several weeks ago, for four consecutive days, we published a box on our Opinion page seeking nominations for Sunshine Week "Local Heroes," citizens who have played a role in ensuring open meetings and access to public documents in their communities.
Accompanied by what should now be the familiar Sunshine Week logo – the sun shining behind a government building dome and an open file folder – the 101-word item was featured prominently Feb. 23-26 along with those days’ letters to the editor under the headline: WANTED: SUNSHINE WEEK ‘LOCAL HEROES.’ It also appeared each day in the online version of our Opinion section.
In short, the note to readers explained we were joining media outlets around the country in an effort to recognize those citizens who, in our words, “have fought tirelessly for open meetings or the release of public documents.” Readers were encouraged to nominate someone – including themselves – who they felt was deserving of such recognition and to contact me with a brief note detailing why.
So how many nominations do you think I received? Pick one:
A) 10
B) 5
C) 1
D) 0
If you guessed D, you are correct. Zero.
Actually, that isn’t entirely accurate. On Wednesday of that week, someone posting under the name Russ Richardson placed the following comment online: “I would nominate the Voters of Nashua who removed the chief thunder cloud of open government in Nashua politics, the Hon. Steve Bolton.”
While I appreciate the sentiment, I’m not sure that’s what the American Society of News Editors had in mind when it decided to recognize three individuals as national “Local Heroes” in conjunction with Sunshine Week (March 14-20),” including an all-expenses paid trip to the ASNE convention next month in Washington.
It’s now been a few weeks since we struck out in our search for citizen champions of open government and, to be honest, I’m still trying to figure out what that means.
Does it mean our readers don’t value the principle of open government in our democratic society? Or does it just mean they consider that to be a primary function of The Telegraph.
If it’s the latter, I suppose we should be grateful for the vote of confidence. After all, I would like to think that during my nearly 21 years here I have played some small role in conveying the critical importance of our watchdog role in the community.
It’s also why it was gratifying when The Telegraph was recognized by the New England Associated Press News Executives Association in 2008 and 2009 with first-place awards in the Right-to-Know category for some of the work we published during Sunshine Week.
Still, I can’t help but feel the silent response to our “Local Heroes” search represents a failure or sorts, a condemnation of our efforts over the years to convince you that we have no more right to open meetings or public government documents than you do.
More to the point, why don’t we get to write about people like:
Tina Renna, of Cranford, N.J., who was kicked out of a public meeting of the Union County Board of Chosen Freeholders last summer for questioning the vice chairman about his family members on the public payroll.
Renna is the founder and president of the Union County Watchdog Association, a nonprofit organization that believes “good government can only be achieved through a checks and balance system that includes the watchful eye of the people.”
Daniel Ochoa III, of Boerne, Texas, who spent thousands of dollars of his own money to obtain thousands of pages of e-mails from nearly a dozen public bodies during the past two years.
As a result of his efforts, Ochoa uncovered what he believes to be a much-too-cozy relationship between city government staff and developers in this community of 10,000 people near San Antonio, including the use of the term “greenies” by one staffer to describe pro-growth opponents.
And Kathy Barnes, of Albertville, Ala., who created quite a firestorm in Marshall County several years back when she asked county officials for an assortment of public documents, including citations issued under the county’s junk ordinance, payroll records of the junk ordinance’s enforcement officers and bid information for the vehicles owned by the county and used by county commissioners.
What do these three individuals have in common?
All three earned the distinction of being nominated for the prestigious Sunshine Troublemaker of the Week award by Sunshine Review, a nonprofit organization based in Chicago that’s dedicated to transparency in state and local governments.
So as we launch our participation in Sunshine Week for the sixth consecutive year today, we hope you will find great interest in our stories this week based on requests for public records.
Perhaps more importantly, we hope they will inspire our own set of Tinas, Daniels and Kathys to step forward and assume the all-important role of community watchdog troublemakers.
Nick Pappas is editorial page editor of The Telegraph and New Hampshire coordinator of Sunshine Week. He can be reached at 594-6505 or npappas@nashuatelegraph.com. You can also follow the Opinion page on Twitter at @TelegraphEdit.