Sunday, September 09, 2007
Editorial: An open government hero retires
Roanoke's Frosty Landon demanded government reveal its secrets to the people of Virginia.
From the RoundTable blog
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Virginians can see what their government is up to thanks in no small part to one man: Forrest "Frosty" Landon.
A modern Prometheus, he brought light to the people and taught them how to turn it on the gods, without all the messy vulture business that followed. He taught the gods, too, that sunshine is something to embrace as the foundation of good government.
Now, as he begins his second retirement, his hard work has garnered much-deserved recognition. The National Freedom of Information Coalition and the Society of Professional Journalists recently named him one of the "Heroes of the 50 States" in The Open Government Hall of Fame.
Frosty has been a Roanoke institution for decades, first with WDBJ and then at The Roanoke Times where he rose to executive editor before retiring.
Retirement did not sit well with him, though. In 1996, at Frosty's instigation, the Virginia Coalition for Open Government formed, and he became the executive director. He led a crusade against government secrecy on behalf of all Virginians for a decade, stepping down from the post this summer to begin a second retirement.
His tireless insistence that government performs best under public scrutiny motivated many improvements. Virginia created its Freedom of Information Advisory Council at his urging.
He was a persistent voice of reason as lawmakers considered laws to restrict public access. And he was ever a teacher, instructing citizens and lawmakers alike in the nuances of open government.
He is quick to remind government officials that most of the state's exemptions from disclosure are optional, not mandatory. Officials may release information if they would only choose the people's right to know over government's tendency toward shadows.
These days, Virginia is not the most open state in the nation, but its citizens have more power to seek public documents and attend public meetings than do those in many other states. Indeed, many often point to Virginia as an exemplar. Frosty helped Tennessee, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and New Jersey create their own coalitions modeled on the commonwealth's.
For a decade and more, Frosty has been Virginia's conscience on questions of open government. He defended the public's need and right to monitor government.
Without his work, our democracy would be all the weaker, and most people wouldn't even realize it because the truth would be hidden away in secret meetings and shrouded in unreleased documents.
