Editorial
Access to information makes communities stronger
By
Mar 20, 2008 - 10:41:22 AM

The police, fire and EMS stories that appear in this edition of the paper were written with information provided, in part, from those very departments of government. These departments, as well as numerous political leaders at various level of government, have cooperated with our reporters on numerous occasions.

This is not always the case of all departments at all levels of government. Without access to information, our readers go uninformed.

For example, this past summer, our coverage of local police activities was severely limited and hampered by a now-revoked policy of the city police department.

This year, the police department changed its policy on making police reports available at the Daniel Island precinct and required our reporters, and interested citizens, to drive to the Lockwood Street station – 14 miles - to look at police reports. The problem, in addition to the cost of time and travel, was that on many occasions no reports were available. Citizens were not being updated on the expenditure of police resources or on crime in our area. The polite yet steady persistence of reporter Tom Ratzloff resulted in the reports now being available again at the local precinct.

Not all requests for information are settled as amicably as the police report situation. Sometimes government leaders simply refuse to make information available to reporters or citizens…information that relates to how government is spending taxpayer money or what policies government is pursuing.

This week is Sunshine Week. Newspapers and communities across the country are celebrating open government and citizens’ right to know what is going on with their government.

Here in our state and local region there has been both positive progress and discouraging refusals to provide information.

The Post and Courier, which has been a leader in our state in requesting and pursuing important government information, is currently engaged in a lawsuit seeking to force the Berkeley County School District to release the school board’s performance evaluation of Superintendent Chester Floyd. The Post and Courier recently reported that the district has spent $17,416.53 in legal fees fighting the lawsuit, claiming that the evaluation is protected by attorney-client privilege and that releasing it would infringe on Dr. Floyd’s privacy.

On a more positive note, there has been movement at the state level to make government expenditures open to the public. Governor Sanford explained in his State of the State address in January, "We’ve increased government transparency by allowing citizens to check online to see how state agencies are spending their money."

Daniel Island’s state senator Larry Grooms recently introduced legislation in the Senate that would require all levels of government in our state, including local and county government, to list expenditures from their check register online and viewable by the public. In a recent appearance on ETV, Grooms explained that instead of just having the press as a watch dog over government expenditures, every citizen will more easily be able to take over a watch dog function. He explained that the costs associated with having governments post their information online would be minimal as banks would be willing to provide the service in order to keep the entity’s business.

The poll graphic accompanying this article demonstrates that open government is important to citizens. With 91 percent of those polled saying a local government candidate’s views on open government are somewhat or very important to them, government leaders need to take notice. To paraphrase Abe Lincoln’s Gettysburg address, government is for and by the people, not for and by the leaders. Without access or knowledge of government expenditures and policies, government no longer responds to citizens. Sunshine Week is a welcome reminder that citizens can take an active role in their government at all levels, and that access to information makes their lives better and their communities stronger.