Spread Some Sunshine: Shoreline-LFP Patch Celebrates the Public’s Right to Know

Want to know how much the superintendent makes? That's an open record.

Want to watch Shoreline and Lake Forest Park officials deliberate and decide what to do about a proposed development? That's an open meeting. 

As part of Sunshine Week 2012—a national initiative to promote a dialogue about the importance of open government and freedom of information—Edmonds Patch wants to share with you some of the open government resources available to anyone. 

You have the right to see the records the government keeps—from health inspection reports to employee salaries to the entire municipal or school district budget—and to be present at the meetings where governmental business gets done.

The expectation is that government is open—if they want to close the meeting or keep a document confidential, they need to say why. And in most cases, they aren't allowed to ask who you are or why you want to see the record you're requesting.

This year, Sunshine Week is co-sponsored by ASNE, the Reporters Committee For Freedom of the Press and many other media industry partners, including Patch. Participants include news media, civic groups, libraries, nonprofits, schools and others interested in government transparency.

The week is funded by a grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation of Miami, along with the ASNE Foundation, the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and others.  

To mark Sunshine Week 2012, we urge citizens and civic organizations across the country to again press state and local officials to find meaningful ways to participate in Sunshine Week to demonstrate that they, too, are committed to true transparency in government.  

One way this can be done is by adopting a meaningful open government proclamation that pledges specific steps to enhance the public’s right to know.

Proclamations can be more than just statements of general support. They can also address and pledge action on specific open government concerns and shortcomings that you, your organization and/or the officials themselves have identified.

Toward that goal, the sponsors of Sunshine Week offer this model proclamation. It begins with a generalized statement of support for government in the sunshine, followed by a sampling of open government provisions that have resulted in increased transparency in local and state governments around the country.

If your city, county, school board or state government does something special to recognize Sunshine Week, please let us know. We'd also like electronic copies of any proclamations and other materials to share on the website. You, or the officials, can send them to sunshineweek@sunshineweek.org.

Click here to read the Sunshine Week Open Government Proclamation in PDF form.

There are a host of free, easy-to-understand and useful resources for you to help you understand what you are entitled to under local and state and federal laws. Here are a few:

Washington state

SunshineWeek.org has a host of resources on its site. http://www.sunshineweek.org/ReadingRoom.aspx.  

The Coalition for Open Government has excellent resources on Washington's two key transparency in government laws, the Public Records Act and the Open Public Meetings Act at http://www.washingtoncog.org. The coalition also hosts an active Citizens Network that posts podcasts and other useful materials for citizens interested in open government.