Wednesday, January 25, 2006
Editorial: The public consents to government secrecy
A casual view of open government at the local level undermines public accountability.
From the RoundTable blog
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Whether they believe in minimalist government, activist government or something in between, too many Virginians seem content to forgo a culture of political accountability.
People cannot hold a stake in their government if they do not know what it is doing, and those who doubt the trustworthiness of government should be the last to let it operate in the dark.
The public's casual attitude toward open government is infectious, as two local governments recently demonstrated.
The mayor of Covington, who also serves as the chairman of the taxpayer-funded Alleghany Highlands Economic Development Corp., last month decided the public did not need to know how much the corporation is paying its new executive director. A formal written request from The Roanoke Times citing the Virginia Freedom of Information Act jarred the number loose -- $94,000.
If the head of economic development earns a high salary relative to the rest of the community, making a case for why he is worth it would satisfy the public better than concealing it.
Meanwhile, four members of the Rocky Mount Town Council met Saturday with a developer who hopes to build hundreds of homes, but no one bothered to notify the public.
There appears to have been no ill intent. Indeed, the developer was smart to bring his plans forward at an early stage and should heed the council's advice that he share them with neighbors.
Likewise, council members demonstrated that they care about their community by sacrificing a Saturday morning to town business.
Not every secret meeting is so innocent, though, which is precisely why the law requires elected bodies to post advance notice of such meetings. The statute provides three dozen justifications for closed meetings, but "We forgot" and "We didn't think it was important" are not among them.
When a government body wonders whether a meeting or a piece of information should be public, the default answer should be yes until a compelling justification for secrecy arises. The public too often has allowed officials to forget that simple principle of democracy.
