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EDITORIAL: Nothing gained from secrecy
Open the records, restore confidence.
FIRST, WISCONSIN government does the right thing, by trying to bolster public confidence in officials and agencies, creating the Government Accountability Board.
Then, the board's trustworthiness is undermined by excessive secrecy required by the one-year-old law, which does not allow the agency to release details of the majority of the cases it investigates.
It's the same old story: When will government get it, and recognize that the more secrets it keeps, the less confidence people will have in public sector actions and activities?
AFTER THE UNIT'S first year of operation, The Associated Press - using Wisconsin's open records laws - attempted to examine the performance of the Government Accountability Board.
The AP found the board had conducted 40 investigations. Of that number, 29 had been completed. Yet just seven of the 29 concluded cases were open to public inspection. The rest were sealed.
A spokesperson for the board explained that the law creating the agency required it to keep secret most information gathered from its investigations. And, said the spokesman, Jonathan Becker, the board doesn't like that requirement.
“It would enhance the public's confidence in the board and confidence in officials” if the investigations were transparent, Becker said.
Finally. Common sense.
SECRECY IN GOVERNMENT almost always works against the interest of public confidence. It creates the impression - right or wrong - that somebody in authority is trying to pull a fast one, by hiding facts from the people.
In the case of the Government Accountability Board, such secrecy runs counter to the entire purpose for creating the agency. For heaven's sake, the whole reason to have the board is to promote public confidence in clean, open government. How does secrecy advance that goal?
It is one of the mysteries of public service. Citizens, overwhelmingly, do not want the government to hide facts from them. But once individuals get themselves elected to office, the tendency is to start viewing records as their property, not the citizens' property. What the people don't know, apparently, can't hurt the politicians.
THE AP WAS TOLD a proposal to increase public access to information would be considered later this year. Let's hope so.
The idea of an anti-corruption unit for state government that is required to bury the facts in most investigations is, on its face, absurd. This can be fixed, simply by letting the sun shine.
FIRST, WISCONSIN government does the right thing, by trying to bolster public confidence in officials and agencies, creating the Government Accountability Board.
Then, the board's trustworthiness is undermined by excessive secrecy required by the one-year-old law, which does not allow the agency to release details of the majority of the cases it investigates.
It's the same old story: When will government get it, and recognize that the more secrets it keeps, the less confidence people will have in public sector actions and activities?
AFTER THE UNIT'S first year of operation, The Associated Press - using Wisconsin's open records laws - attempted to examine the performance of the Government Accountability Board.
The AP found the board had conducted 40 investigations. Of that number, 29 had been completed. Yet just seven of the 29 concluded cases were open to public inspection. The rest were sealed.
A spokesperson for the board explained that the law creating the agency required it to keep secret most information gathered from its investigations. And, said the spokesman, Jonathan Becker, the board doesn't like that requirement.
“It would enhance the public's confidence in the board and confidence in officials” if the investigations were transparent, Becker said.
Finally. Common sense.
SECRECY IN GOVERNMENT almost always works against the interest of public confidence. It creates the impression - right or wrong - that somebody in authority is trying to pull a fast one, by hiding facts from the people.
In the case of the Government Accountability Board, such secrecy runs counter to the entire purpose for creating the agency. For heaven's sake, the whole reason to have the board is to promote public confidence in clean, open government. How does secrecy advance that goal?
It is one of the mysteries of public service. Citizens, overwhelmingly, do not want the government to hide facts from them. But once individuals get themselves elected to office, the tendency is to start viewing records as their property, not the citizens' property. What the people don't know, apparently, can't hurt the politicians.
THE AP WAS TOLD a proposal to increase public access to information would be considered later this year. Let's hope so.
The idea of an anti-corruption unit for state government that is required to bury the facts in most investigations is, on its face, absurd. This can be fixed, simply by letting the sun shine.
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Mr. Data wrote on Jan 6, 2009 8:18 AM:
It's beyond me why the media incessantly complains about limited access to information that they will most likely abuse or misreport anyway. The media is no longer a reliable source of information and their tabloid journalism needs to be monitored and controlled.
In this age of instant distribution of information it is important that our government (who has so much data on all of us) protect details and PII information of its citizens, businesses, employees, programs, military plans,, etc., etc. Once any data is released to the public there is no law that governs where it will be sent or how it will be used. Sadly there is no law or regulations governing why someone should have access to government data, either.
While I agree secrecy can be a cancer in our democratic form of government, so is a grossly unbalanced process (as suggested by our media folks) that allows anyone to have access to any piece of information in our government at any time it is wanted.
That's equally as bad for allof us and something we all should fear. "