Report: Dim Sunshine Laws in Five Midwest States

wanted to let you know about the report on open government laws that the Citizen Advocacy Center, a policy research partner of the Midwest Democracy Network, launched today in celebration of Sunshine Week. I thought you might find it of interest this week!

Relevant links:
http://www.citizenadvocacycenter.org/OGP.html
http://midwestdemocracynetwork.org/index.php/projects/article/midwest_open_government_project_2009/
http://midwestdemocracynetwork.org/index.php/news/article/midwest_open_government_project_launches_resonates/

PRNewswire Release:
http://news.prnewswire.com/DisplayReleaseContent.aspx?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/03-18-2009/0004990576&EDATE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, March 18, 2009
Contact: Terry Pastika, Citizen Advocacy Center, 630-833-4080
Charlie Boesel, Joyce Foundation, 312-795-3816
Emily Blum, Valerie Denney Communications, 312-408-2580 ext. 13

New study finds five Midwestern states have dim sunshine laws
CHICAGO, March 18 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- While every state in the nation has laws that require public access to government records and meetings, in five Midwestern states that were recently analyzed, documents are often kept secret and doors can remain tightly closed.
According to a study released Wednesday by the Citizen Advocacy Center (Center) in celebration of Sunshine Week (March 15-21), open government laws in Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota have systemic barriers that chill public participation and access to government, which weakens our democratic system designed to be by, for and of the people.
The Center analyzed each state's Freedom of Information and Open Meetings Acts and found striking similarities between all states, including:

• Open government laws are sporadically enforced, which means public bodies are more likely to be unresponsive to records requests and employ exemptions to keep meetings closed.
• No state surveyed has a government office with statutory authority specifically created to oversee and enforce sunshine laws.
• State employees are not adequately trained to carry out open government policies and may be unintentionally violating the laws.
• Citizens may be able to attend meetings, but there are very few opportunities to participate.

"For our democracy to thrive and grow, we must have open government laws that are both strong and effective," said Terry Pastika, Executive Director and Community Lawyer for the Citizen Advocacy Center. "Without forceful sunshine laws, the public can not fully participate in the democratic process, knowledgably discuss issues of public concern, make informed judgments about the actions of elected officials, or monitor government to make sure it's acting in their interest."

For the study, the Center reviewed each state's laws as well as more than 1,000 legal cases, attorney general opinions, and professional publications to produce a comprehensive report on each state's strengths and weaknesses. The Center also provided specific reform recommendations that good government advocates can use to advance changes within each state. Reforms range from changing how fees should be levied to implementing training programs for public officials.

The study, conducted by the Center and funded by The Joyce Foundation, is distributed by the Midwest Democracy Network, an alliance of political reform advocates who are working to strengthen democracy and build the capacity of the public to participate and affect government decision-making.

To view the full report online, visit www.citizenadvocacycenter.org or www.midwestdemocracynetwork.org.

FOI Update from MPR

Citizen lobbyist, Rich Neumeister , is awarded the 2009 John R. Finnegan award for open government. He is also interviewed on Minnesota Public Radio with Minneapolis Attorney and First Amendment specialist, Mark Anfinson.

You can listen to or read the program on the MRP web site.

Citizen Journalist's Guide to Open Government

Check out this ambitious multimedia e-learning module designed to help new media makers understand how to obtain public records and get into public meetings. Produced by Geanne Rosenberg, founding chair of Baruch College's new undergraduate Department of Journalism and the Writing Professions (Knight Citizen News Center)

Creative Yard Signs

Exercise your voting rights early this season! And have fun doing it. My Yard Our Message is a project sponsored by the Walker Art Center, MN Artists, and the UnConvention. And you get to vote and the medium and the message.

Scores of artists and designers were invited to submit yard signs around the theme of what it means to actively participate in a democracy. Their wildly creative proposals deal with information access, the cost of ignorance, get-out-the-vote messages, the war in Iran, tragedy in Darfur, the environment, and virtually every other concern facing voters in a democracy.

Here’s the offer you can’t refuse: You, your family and friends, check the FaceBook rendering of the artists’ proposals. And then you get to vote for the signs that you would be willing, nay eager, to post in your yard!

I spent almost an hour yesterday weighing the messages, the neighborhood, and my willingness to put the yard sign where my mouth is! Virtually every artist’s creation gave me pause and a keen sense that I’d like to talk about this with the neighbors!

The votes will tabulated (and the process monitored with due diligence….) The top fifty vote-getting designs will be announced August 1. They will then be made available to order as a full-sized political yard sign for $20. Top designs will also be available as free downloads. The frosting on the cake -- the Walker and MNArtists are going to print the winning yard signs and place them around the TC’s , with particular emphasis on neighborhoods immediately surrounding the habitués of the visiting RNConventioneers.

Cast your votes now (yes, you get to vote for more than one) by clicking here!

Play it again, NCMR

In several conversations during the past few weeks I’ve heard people mention that they wish they’d been able to attend the June 6-8 National Media Reform Conference at the Minneapolis Convention Center. Never mind the Strib reporter and Bill O’Reilly didn’t appreciate the opportunity - in fact, their negative take might have expanded the audience.

Take heart - all of the keynote and other major talks are streamed online. You’ll see and hear Minnesota Congressman Keith Ellison, author Amy Goodman, political analyst Bill Moyers and a host of other speakers on the NCMR website. There’s also an audio file, transcripts, photos of participants and speakers, and an expanding collection of follow-up reports and developments.

Access sine qua non

The lynchpin of access to government information rests in the hands of every voter. Still not everyone votes, and not everyone knows how to get access to the voting systems. There’s lots of get out the vote information, of course, much of it sponsored by organizations that would like to advise you on how to vote.

Two national groups rise above partisan ship to provide the public with easy-to-use and understand guides to the election process, including information about the rights of voters, the process, local rules and regs. I thought I was tuned in because I know I’m registered and I can find my polling site -- but I just spent two hours plumbing the depths of these resources. There’s an amazing amount of information here, carefully aggregated and analyzed by trusted national organizations.

The League of Women Voters has a great guide in the June 2008 issue of The National Voter. It’s replete with information on where to look for voter registration information, polling places, guides to PSA’s, involved organizations, and links to scores of resources.

OpenTheGovernment has also gathered a ton of information about the complexities of voting in its Election Resource Center., everything from a discussion of “caging” to how to challenge an election.

Minnesota has a history of poll site registration and other open policies. Still, not everyone who can be is “in the loop.” These two nonprofit organizations, and others, have done the research to ease access to the system. Before you post that get-out-to-vote sign in your front yard you might want to know where to send would-be voters for the facts. You don’t have to know the answers, just know where to look.

Mourning Coalition of Journalists for Open Government

As readers in cities around the nation lament the cuts to their local newspaper, their primary source of accurate information and reflection, I am mourning the demise of a related organization, the Coalition of Journalists for Open Government. I got to know the CJOG through Sunshine Week activities, a project in which CJOG was a major force. The Coalition also provided a forum for collaboration and communication among the many journalism organizations that stand up for open government, particularly at the federal level.

The work of the CJOG will be picked up by the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, headed by Minnesotan Lucy Dalglish, and by the National Freedom of Information Coalition; Sunshine in Government will also continue to post information on federal open government issues. These are good, reliable -- but very busy -- hands in which to leave an important function.

Needless to say, the reason for closing the virtual doors at CJOG is money. Long ago I learned that people/organizations will pay for goods first, then services, and almost never collaboration. There’s no tangible, visible product, just the payoff of shared responsibility, division of labor, and the powerful impact of collective wisdom. Sometimes those benefits get in the way of other agendas, e.g. obfuscation of facts and empire building.

Thanks to Peter Weitzel for his efforts on behalf of open government and for his continued involvement at the federal level.