Monday, December 24, 2007
Editorial: Punish illegal secrecy
Judges can give some bite to Virginia's open government laws.
From the RoundTable blog
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Public officials who disregard the commonwealth's open government laws might finally have something to worry about.
State law is supposed to guarantee citizens can monitor their government. Meetings must be open and announced in advance. Officials must hand over documents when citizens ask.
If only everyone followed those simple rules.
The laws are only as good as the government officials charged with obeying them. Too often citizens hit a wall of bureaucratic obstinacy or secrecy.
A judge in Madison County last week had enough of it. After finding that Sheriff Erik Weaver had willfully violated the state's Freedom of Information Act, the judge slapped him with a $250 fine to be paid from his own pocket. The sheriff will also have to pay the wronged citizen's court fees.
The people who follow open government issues believe this is the first time a Virginia district court judge has imposed such penalties. We hope it will not be the last.
Some officials fear public records might embarrass them or that an open meeting might reveal activities that opponents could use against them in the next campaign. Some just have a penchant for secrecy.
So they block access. Citizens might go away rather than pursue the matter in court. The records might be time-sensitive, and dragging a dispute through the legal system can take weeks or months. Even if a court ultimately orders the records' release, well, until last week, there was no punishment. The law had no bite.
For the same reasons that the state punishes other lawbreakers, it should punish those in government who wrongfully favor secrecy over legally required disclosure.
One judge has shown it is possible to do so. If judges in other localities do the same, the environment would change.
No longer would officials be able to ignore the law with impunity. The threat of real punishments would make them think twice before conducting public business out of the view of the public.
