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Sunshine Week 2006: Your Success Stories

Published: August 21, 2006
Last Updated: August 21, 2006

We're collecting Sunshine Week success stories and hope you'll send in yours. Please e-mail comments, PDF files and other materials to dghernandez@asne.org.

The coverage, commentaries and activities promoting open government during Sunshine Week are leading to some tangible, meaningful changes to people's lives and the laws that govern them.

The Sunshine Week initiative is increasing public awareness, it's coming up more often in policy conversations, and the efforts of participants are being cited as real forces for moving the public away from simply accepting excessive and unwarranted government secrecy.

People also are playing more of a role in the actions that affect their communities. They now are learning what kinds of information they have a right to see, where to get it, how to get it and what to do if someone tries to keep if from them.

As in many places, the Sunshine Week efforts in New York State are having an impact on legislators. Recently, for example, the governor signed legislation that requires agencies to accept Freedom of Information Law requests via e-mail and, when available, provide the documents electronically in a return e-mail.

Here's what Robert J. Freeman, executive director of the New York State Committee on Open Government, told us about sunshine in the Empire State:

"From my perspective, there are two reasons for this year's [New York state] legislative achievements.

"First, I think that many are reacting to secrecy in Washington; and second, Sunshine Week, as you probably know, has been terrifically successful in NY. Newspapers throughout the state, working with Diane Kennedy of the New York State Newspaper Publishers Association, have done a bang up job of letting readers know about FOI, editorializing, doing audits, series, etc.

"In short, our state legislators have been unable to evade issues relating to FOI, and the public and news media have created pressure for change. My sense is that neither last year's nor this year's amendments to our statute would have been passed but for Sunshine Week. It's hard to ensure that legislators don't forget, but Sunshine Week has become our guarantee.

"It's amazing that after only two years, the commemoration has become an annual event."

In addition to the statewide impact, Sunshine Week participants have seen their FOI audits and other coverage affect the release of information in their communities.

The San Jose Mercury News opened Sunshine Week with a resounding call to its City Council to enact an open government law. The paper not only editorialized in favor of the measure, however, it also drafted a carefully crafted model law as a starting point. Editorial Page Editor and Vice President Stephen E. Wright recently explained it best. In his words:

"It's not unusual for a newspaper to call for more sunshine on the public's business. But with months of crusading editorials and enlightening news stories, the Mercury News went far beyond that, showing an exceptional commitment to the cause.

"We produced a 36-page model sunshine ordinance that San Jose could adopt or use as a basis for study. We did this in collaboration with our attorney, who volunteered his time, and community leaders, whose frustrating experiences with City Hall helped us frame provisions unique to our city. The newspaper's Web site (www.mercurynews.com) provided easy public access to the ordinance, as well as to our coverage and editorials.

"We spared no effort. I testified at a city council meeting in favor of a comprehensive sunshine law, and Executive Editor Susan Goldberg wrote a column of support that appeared on our front page. This kind of activism and teamwork between the editorial and news pages is unusual for us. It raised some eyebrows in city government—as well as in our newsroom. But the issue was too important to the community and so central to the newspaper's mission that business as usual could not apply.

"Why take this extraordinary step? During the past seven years, a once-model city government had devolved into a culture of secrecy that deepened with each new outrage. A council member was forced to resign over taking expensive gifts. Inside deals marred several city contracts—a grand jury is looking into one of them. The council approved controversial proposals with no time for serious public debate. Change was needed and, with this being an election year for mayor and much of the council, the time was ripe.

"We never expected our ordinance to be approved verbatim but it already has proven its worth. Shortly before we published it, a council member and mayoral candidate proposed her own 'sunshine' law that was anything but. We not only argued against that proposal but also showed the council and the public what a true open government law looks like."

As it did the year before, The Oklahoman used the Sunshine Week icon on each article and news brief during Sunshine Week that was based on meetings—which worked out to about 7 in 10 articles. Among its coverage of open government issues for Sunshine Week, the paper highlighted the issue of excessive copying fees for public records.

As staff writer Bryan Dean, explained:

"The centerpiece of our multi-part Sunshine Week coverage was a story about cities overcharging for records. They are allowed by the Oklahoma Open Records Act to charge no more than 25 cents per page for most records, but were charging $1 per page or more in some circumstances.

"As we followed up our Sunshine Week coverage over the next few months, cities began changing their policies to follow the law. Roughly half a dozen cities have lowered their copying fees as a result of our stories.

"Many public officials in the state are starting to recognize the term 'Sunshine Week,' and they are beginning to realize that The Oklahoman is serious about holding them accountable for following openness laws.

"We had been going round and round with some of these cities about their records policies for years. It wasn't until the coordinated effort of Sunshine Week that they started to get the picture. The effort is having an obvious impact in our state."

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