Reporters, editors and executives from North Carolina media organizations visited campus Thursday, March 15 for a discussion of open government laws and public access to government records and meetings. Details...
The School of Communications hosted the seminar as part of educational
efforts by the Sunshine Center of the North Carolina Open Government
Coalition.
Participants heard the results of an audit by citizens around the state
who tried to obtain public documents, as well as results from a recent
Elon University Poll of five Southeastern states on public awareness
about open government laws, commonly referred to as Sunshine Laws.
A panel discussion featuring Gretchen Lothrop, right, a Chatham County woman
who sued the local Board of Elections over an open government law
issue, also included Raleigh News & Observer reporter Leah Friedman
and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill professor Cathy Packer.
Lothrop sued under North Carolina’s Sunshine laws after she requested
Board of Elections meeting minutes and was told they did not exist. She
and other citizens voiced their concerns to the county’s Board of
Commissioners, and were threatened with eviction from the board’s
public meetings.
“I was personally offended that they took the concerns of taxpayers so lightly,” Lothrop said. A judge eventually sided with Lothrop in the case, but awarded only $3,500 to cover legal fees — only 10 percent of legal costs incurred. Even so, she said she would do it again. “We have to pay attention locally, or we’ll set ourselves up for disaster nationally.”
Friedman, right, the News & Observer reporter, said Lothrop’s suit has had
an impact on the way Chatham County conducts business. “I think (the
county has) a long history of denying public records requests, but they
are becoming more open since this case,” Friedman said.
In January, Elon and the North Carolina Open Government Coalition joined forces to promote the state’s Sunshine Laws and freedom of information for media and citizens about the way government operates. Elon is the home of the Sunshine Center of the North Carolina Open Government Coalition, whose primary
role is to further the vision of the coalition by becoming the state’s
leading resource on citizen access to the workings of government and
First Amendment issues.