From the Charlotte Observer (3/15/09): Anytime a door closes on a public meeting or a public record is locked out of reach in North Carolina, there should be a bulletproof reason.
That’s not just according to this newspaper, it’s according to the law. Our state’s so-called Sunshine Laws require two things: For elected officials to make decisions in the open (in all but a few specific instances) and for governments to make public records open.
Those principles are front and center this week as the nation’s news organizations celebrate Sunshine Week, an effort to highlight the importance of open, accessible information. Yet Sunshine Laws aren’t about newspapers. They are about citizens. The rights they provide give you power. Consider:
Can you know whether the total compensation paid to the CEO of Carolinas Health Care system is out of line with other executives? You can now. A tweak in the law in 2007 stopped public hospitals from hiding everything but the salary.
Can you know whether Charlotte’s city manager got a raise last year? Sure you can. Council members can close the door on citizens to talk about a public employee’s performance, but salaries are public record.
Those laws exist for simple but important reasons: Citizens in a democracy have a right to know what the people who represent them and the people hired to mind public business do – and they have a right to be involved and affect the outcome.
There’s a practical argument, too: Citizens need information that alerts them to potential dangers, errors or abuses by those in charge.
Besides, openness results in stronger, more responsive government.
Decisions made openly gain the public’s confidence. When public proposals are exposed to light, bad deals are easier to sniff out. Disclosure requirements for people who hold influential elected or appointed posts put a spotlight on damaging conflicts of interest.
North Carolina’s laws are strong. But they have gaps.
The biggest: There are no penalties for violators of Open Records and Open Meetings laws. Citizens can recover lawyers’ fees if they sue to force compliance, but courts don’t regularly award them.
Here is where the legislature has work to do. The state should require offending government bodies to pay the legal costs of those who successfully sue for violations. That would make it inconvenient to do public business any way but in the open.
Charlotte Observer Staff Editorial