Let's talk some Sunshine (nothing to do with weather)

It has been 40 years since Congress passed and President Lyndon Johnson signed the first Freedom of Information Act. It is ironic that a law that was passed during one war, Vietnam, is in danger of being dismantled during another, the war on terror.
It is thoughts such as those that run through an editor's mind this week, which has been designated Sunshine Week and is set aside each year by people (like us) who care about open government.
Openness is not an easy sell in times such as these. It is much more reassuring to be told by the government that it is protecting you from every imaginable danger by putting a lid on what government is doing for you.
Are you safer today than you were five years ago from a possible terrorist attack on the nation's chemical plants, nuclear facilities, transportation system, water supply. Maybe, maybe not. But in today's climate, if an enterprising reporter attempts to find out, he or she is going to run into all kinds of "national security" barricades.
The Justice Department of Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez is still interpreting Freedom of Information requests under a memorandum issued by his predecessor, John Ashcroft, that advises government agencies to err on the side of secrecy when considering a request for public information.
This policy clearly runs opposite to the stated intention of Congress in the FOI Act.
The spin zone
The administration has shown itself more than willing to put its own spin on what the public has a right to know or see.
President Bush issued an executive order in 2001 that gutted the intent of the Presidential Records Act of 1978, a law that said presidential papers created in the course of official business are the property of the American people. Most White House papers should become public when a president leaves office. With rare exceptions, all of them should be in the public domain, available to historians and researchers, after 12 years.
President Bush issued an executive order in 2001 allowing sitting and past presidents and vice presidents and their families to keep records from those officeholders' administrations secret indefinitely. He even gave a sitting president veto power over a past president who wanted his records made public.
We don't think the timing of George W. Bush's executive order was purely coincidental with the impending unsealing of records from the administration of George H.W. Bush. (Remember Iran-Contra?)
Through clever use of the Patriot Act, the administration has managed to make secret what the founders thought should be public, search warrants. National Security Letters aren't called warrants, because they are not issued by a court, and if one is issued to give government agents access to your bank or telephone records, you won't even be told about it -- and your bank or telephone company isn't allowed to tell you. The Washington Post recently reported that more than 30,000 NSLs had been issued in just one year. A secret warrant by any other name is still a secret warrant.
Of course, a penchant for government secrecy is not unique to Washington, D.C.
While Ohio has a relatively strong open records act, there are almost constant attempts by some lobbyists and legislators to carve out exceptions. Just today, an amendment to the state's concealed carry law went into effect that exempts the records of who has been issued a gun permit from any public scrutiny.
In Pennsylvania two days ago, a well-meaning legislator attempted to make that state's legislative process more transparent. Instead, the House passed two provisions that would make it even easier for legislators to work behind closed doors.
On the page opposite this, a Washington state newspaper editor ("Don't ignore your right to know") writes about how county officials fought for years to keep a 5 million legal bill from public view.
On-going battles
Over the years, this newspaper has been forced numerous times, on its own or as part of a consortium, to go court to win what the law clearly required public officials to give. In Sunday's paper, the Years Ago photo caught a moment in time in 1982 when The Vindicator successfully sought a court order opening all Youngstown City Council meetings to the press and public.
Most people are content to let the press fight public records or open meetings battles. And that's too bad, because in the dilution of media that is sweeping the nation, there are fewer and fewer individual press organizations that have the time and money to fight all the fights that secrecy advocates are starting.
So consider this a wake-up call. The political cartoon above by Etta Hulme is one of several dozen made available to newspapers this week free of charge by cartoonists who feel strongly about the value of Sunshine. It's clever. It's funny. And to anyone -- inside the press and out -- who cares about open government, it's a little scary.