Healthy sunshine

Springfield News-Leader

In 1996, the Springfield school district paid an architect to study the cost of renovating Central High School or replacing it with a new school. He completed his report, which immediately disappeared from sight.

Steve Hoots wondered why. He wondered what was in the study. So he asked to see it and was turned down. For most people, that would have been the end of it. But not for Hoots. ...

He persisted, pointing out that courts had rejected the reasons the district gave for rejecting his request. Eventually, the district let him see the report -- and made him co-chair of a committee to look at all five high schools.

This is why Missouri has a Sunshine Law opening government records and meetings. It gives citizens a means to keep their government honest.

The press is often the loudest proponent of the Sunshine Law, but it was not written for newspapers. The law exists so citizens can keep their government open and accessible. It is there so Hoots can keep an eye on the Springfield school board.

It is there so Petty Triplett can record the meetings of the Strafford Board of Alderman, whether it causes a ruckus or not. Nervous aldermen demanded to know what she was going to do with the recordings. The proper answer: None of your business. The Sunshine Law gives her the right to record an open meeting. ...

Sunshine is healthy. That's why the Sunshine Law makes openness the public policy of the state, with a few narrowly drawn exemptions.

Unfortunately, there's always someone in government who prefers darkness -- sometimes willfully, sometimes out of ignorance, but always from the misguided belief that the records or meetings belong to them.

The Sunshine Law says they're wrong. It says government, its records and its meetings belong to the people. But it has too little bite to back up its promise.

When a citizen successfully sues to force openness, a judge may order the offending government to pay the citizen's legal fees if there has been a "purposeful" violation of the law. That's an incredibly high standard. You can count on one hand the number of times legal fees have been awarded. Government officials know this. It makes it easy not to worry about the law.

A bill headed for Senate debate would rearrange their priorities. It would lower the "purposeful" standard to "gross negligence." Legal fees could be ordered if government officials made no effort to understand the law and violated it.

The Missouri Municipal League is aghast. Such a change will drive away those willing to serve, the league argues.

Wrong. This would only deter those who want to keep secrets, while encouraging all other public officials to err on the side of openness.

The change would make the Sunshine Law real.

It would give real power to the people to hold their government accountable. It's why we have a Sunshine Law in the first place, and it's why this bill must pass.