When people hear about the threats of government secrecy, they’re probably thinking about statewide politicians taking big gobs of money from political contributors and secretly trading legislation and influence to funnel state contracts to their business associates, friends and family.
That does happen. New York is notorious for back-door dealing and secret negotiations.
Sometimes, those secret deals result in the people involved getting sent to prison. Sometimes, the people involved get luxury box seats for their favorite football team.
But while those instances grab the headlines, it’s what happens on the local level that should grab people’s attention.
The actions of local politicians to shut the public out of government actions is where individual citizens make the biggest difference. And it’s where they should most focus their attention.
This week is Sunshine Week, a time when members of the media, citizens advocacy groups and like-minded transparency advocates in government come together to rally the citizens in the fight for their right to know. It’s designed to serve as an educational tool and a reminder of the need for citizen vigilance in ensuring transparency in government.
Local public officials are using secrecy in many different ways to help themselves, shield themselves from public criticism or responsibility, and to manipulate the system to their way of thinking.
Here’s an example: In Buffalo last week, a judge rejected an argument by the New York State Coalition for Open Government, which sued the city of Buffalo over the creation of a salary review commission that approved significant and costly pay raises for some elected officials.
The reason for rejecting the advocacy group’s argument: It wasn’t filed within the four-month statute of limitations.
That short statute of limitations itself is a tool for the government to deny access to records. A court using it as a reason to thwart the public’s interest is another failure of the system.
Throughout New York, local governments are going to court to fight state laws designed to provide access to police disciplinary records.
Access to these records would allow the public to know whether officers violating citizens’ rights are being adequately punished.
In some places, government officials are violating the Open Meetings Law by holding closed-door executive sessions without a legal excuse, failing to post meeting notices in advance and failing to share public meeting documents with citizens in attendance.
Local governments are ignoring statutory deadlines for responding to Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) requests or outright denying access to public records, knowing that a citizen’s only recourse is taking the government to court.
And police departments and district attorneys are withholding information about investigations by claiming a blanket exemption for interfering with an ongoing investigation, without saying exactly how such investigations would be tainted with the release of certain information.
These are the kinds of actions governments take or try to take all the time to keep information away from we the people.
While these specific actions might not be taking place in your community, they are examples of what citizens should watch out for.
And they’re a reminder of why it’s so important for citizens and the media to remain vigilant about demanding transparency.