Congressional action on open goverment is a good sign
Monday, March 19, 2007 11:41 AM PDT
We may not exactly be witnessing the Age of Aquarius in Congress, but we did see an overwhelming vote this week to let the sunshine in.
With strong Republican support, the House defied the White House over executive branch secrecy and passed a much-needed package of open-government bills. President Bush has threatened to veto them, but the 308-117 vote appears solidly veto-proof.
One of the bills would significantly strengthen the Freedom of Information Act, known as FOIA, which guides public requests for government records. Others would expand safeguards for government whistle-blowers and streamline access to documents in presidential libraries.
This week’s successful package of bills, expected to pass in the Senate next, was introduced for government ‘‘Sunshine Week,’’ an undertaking by the American Society of Newspaper Editors and other open-government advocates. The FOIA, for example, has been an important tool for several high-impact national news reports in recent weeks. Among them: the poor care for U.S. soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, the controversial firings of eight U.S. attorneys and the FBI’s mishandling of national security letters.
Americans need to know about these troubling matters. And light can’t be shined on them sufficiently without access to public documents. Lifting government’s shroud isn’t just a duty of the news media. It’s also the right of every American, as made clear by Michael Schrunk, Multnomah County district attorney, and John Foote, Clackamas County district attorney, in a guest column today on the opposite page.
Schrunk and Foote describe how the Klamath County School District, challenged by a citizen’s allegations of public corruption, hired an attorney to investigate, then declared itself vindicated and sealed the report, citing attorney-client privilege. Courts upheld that privilege, and now the Oregon Legislature is considering legislation to tweak our public record law so officials can’t hide behind this privilege.
If the legislation becomes law, as it should, Oregonians can thank one man, retired dentist Bert Teamey of Klamath Falls. He has fought since 2002 to force officials there to honor the notion of open government.
At last, it’s good to see Congress moving in that spirit, too.
— The Oregonian
