Transparency promises are often quickly broken

Every presidential can- didate promises to bring more transparency to government when elected. There is, perhaps, no promise that is more quickly forgotten or more totally violated than that one.

Having worked so hard to achieve power, the successful candidate realizes that knowledge is power and quickly makes the calculation that sharing knowledge is akin to sharing power.

We had hoped that the administration of President Barack Obama would raise the bar for open government. It has, instead, lowered it.

For the second year in a row, more than 50 journalism and open-government groups have signed a letter protesting White House negligence or abuse in keeping information from the public.

This year, as in 2014, the Society of Professional Journalists led the effort to hold the White House to account for transgressions that should embarrass anyone who claims to believe in the role that an informed public plays in a healthy democracy.

ROADBLOCKS TO OPENNESS

Among the practices cited in the letter are:

“prohibiting staff from communication with journalists” except through public-affairs offices or political appointees.

“refusing to allow reporters to speak to staff at all, or delaying” access until its value has passed.

“monitoring interviews.”

“speaking only on the condition” of anonymity even for one with the “title of spokesperson.”

These kinds of roadblocks make it more difficult for reporters to develop in-depth stories on matters of public interest or to cover breaking news in a way that best serves the people. The letter notes that multiple reporters and news organizations had been trying to investigate how the government handles deadly pathogens only to be blocked from access to agency staffs that could answer the important questions.

We now know that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had a history of unsafe handling of dangerous pathogens and that the Food and Drug Administration had deadly smallpox in uninventoried storage for decades. Government misconduct and efforts to shield it from the light of day extends from decade to decade and from administration to administration, regardless of political party or campaign promises.

Some might dismiss these complaints by SPJ or the Association of Opinion Journalists, the American Society of News Editors, Investigation Reporters and Editors, the National Newspaper Association and nearly 50 others as self-serving caterwauling. But while members of these organizations are being prevented from doing their jobs, it is the public that is being denied information about safety, environmental test results or enforcement data, scientific and medical findings.

TPP CLOAKED IN SECRECY

And just as the George W. Bush administration opened with secret meetings on energy policy, a topic that affects every American, as the Obama administration approaches its 11th hour, it is keeping the wraps on the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal that has wide-ranging implications.

The Obama administration has not only developed the trade deal in secrecy, it has blocked even the staffs of U.S. senators from reading the draft. Ohio’s Democratic senator, Sherrod Brown, is fighting back.

Any single senator can place a hold on a presidential nominee, preventing the Senate from confirming that nomination. Senators can even do so secretly, but Brown announced last week that he is putting a hold on the confirmation of Marisa Lago as deputy U.S. trade representative.

If the administration wants to conduct trade policy in secret, it will have to pay a price in assembling its trade staff.

The press doesn’t have the clout of a single senator in making an administration pay for doing violence to government transparency. Voters must recognize that they are the ultimate losers when elected officials put shutters over the windows of government buildings. Voters must hold to account politicians who think that their desire for secrecy outweighs the public’s right to know.