Sunshine Week commemorates open government

If you’ve ever attended a city government or a school board meeting,

you’re in the minority. My guess is that most people don’t go because

those meetings can be tedious and downright boring -- lots of yawning

and shuffling of papers, and occasionally someone bangs a gavel to

rouse the yawners.

But if you can keep your eyes open, there they are -- your elected

officials doing their job for everyone to see. And not only can you

watch the government while it works, you can tell them what to do. It

wouldn’t be a representative democracy without public comment.

To commemorate that open government idea, members of the media

throughout the country are celebrating Sunshine Week, which begins

today.

Sunshine Week began as Sunshine Sunday in Florida in 2002 and has

since grown into a nationwide project to promote and raise awareness

about the public’s right to access government information.

The Ralph M. Brown Act is California’s open-government law. It

eloquently explains the purpose and parameters of elected

representatives:

“The people of this State do not yield their sovereignty to the

agencies which serve them. The people, in delegating authority, do

not give their public servants the right to decide what is good for

the people to know and what is not good for them to know. The people

insist on remaining informed so that they may retain control over the

instruments they have created.”

And that’s where journalists come in. The majority of us have sat

through -- we even take notes -- numerous paper-shuffling,

gavel-banging meetings. And we do it for you.

Newspapers have a responsibility to their readers to keep an

(open) eye, preferably two, on the government. Then we put it in the

paper, so our readers stay informed. And when the government

oversteps its bounds, which is rare because of the Brown Act and

other such laws, you, the constituents, need to know.

I’ve had some experience with this. I’m now in my final semester

at Orange Coast College, but during my time working for the school

newspaper, the Coast Report, I had my first experience with a Brown

Act violation.

The student government was holding closed meetings to allocate a

nearly $1-million budget. Granted, the budget was voted on in open

session, but the number crunching -- the hows, the whys -- were

secret.

That’s a big no-no.

So I did my homework, then I read and reread the Brown Act, and I

decided to fight this practice of illegal, closed meetings. It took

about a year, some very uncomfortable moments with administrators,

and some ugly confrontations with student leaders, but the OCC

student government now holds all its meetings -- budget or otherwise

-- open to the public.

I don’t take responsibility for that.

The Brown Act is the law, and the school’s administration became

responsive -- after a fashion -- to the problem.

It was my duty, as a responsible citizen, as a student of the

college, and as a journalist, to keep the government honest and to

keep the student body informed.

So, when I heard that today marks the beginning of Sunshine Week,

a week dedicated to awareness about open government, I told my

editor, Tony Dodero, that I’d do whatever he needed to help. About an

hour later, he unloaded his 500 words of column space on me.

But I’m happy to have this chance to write about the importance of

open government. And I’m happy to work for a newspaper that values

open government -- the Daily Pilot’s determined reporters cover just

about every open meeting in Costa Mesa and Newport Beach.

And if there’s ever an illegal closed meeting, we’ll cover that

too.

For more about Sunshine Week, go to https://www.sun shineweek.org.

* MATT BALLINGER is a news editor. He may be reached at (714)

966-4634 or by e-mail at [email protected].