Gathering Place
Jim Shon
Sunshine is good,
but let’s not overdo itIn the 1970s and '80s, I lobbied for passage of the Sunshine Law. During the 1978 Constitutional Convention, I pushed for more openness in our legislative process. For 12 years I observed the meaning of openness from the front lines as a legislator. Based on this experience, I believe the current mania to apply the Sunshine Law to each and every conversation among officials is not only misplaced, it actually can work against more thoughtful deliberations and better laws.
A few observations:
>> We elect or appoint people to represent us because we cannot spend the time to explore all the issues and participate in all decisions. If we adopt the notion that this form of democracy should be inherently distrusted, we should seek other ways to make decisions.
>> Private and candid conversations, discussions and analyses among board members and elected officials are the basis of careful and well-developed decisions. It is ridiculous when two members of the Board of Regents cannot ride in a car together, let alone exchange information and views on the business of the University of Hawaii. It is inconceivable that any group that holds the public trust could perform its duties with essentially a court order to avoid all contact except when in front of the cameras.
>> When the only conversations about public business are in front of the media, the temptation to use each and every exchange as a public-relations opportunity or to score points against a rival are increased.
>> When e-mail and meetings are banned, believe me, some contacts will be carried out in deep secrecy, creating a mentality of deception that is unnecessary and personally corrupting. Besides, no one is monitoring phone conversations -- at least not yet.
>> It is ridiculous to suggest that everyone on the planet can communicate through e-mail except those who make decisions on our behalf.
>> Lobbyists, community leaders, all sorts of advocates and influence peddlers are free to meet privately and communicate discretely with elected or appointed officials. The only people who are barred from these contacts are members of the same council or commission!
A few recommendations:
>> Formal decision-making and voting should always be made in public, and we should use new technology to display the documents and testimony under deliberation for all to see. It is most frustrating to "observe" boards, commissions or councils discuss details of documents not in front of the audience or community. More time for public notice of action items also is needed.
>> There should be few prohibitions against members of boards or County Councils from having private conversations or communications among themselves regarding public business. Formal decisions must be done in public, but you cannot learn all you need to learn or develop mutual understandings without interaction.
We can do much more to make government more open, transparent and accessible, but the desire to drastically limit contacts among officials is crazy. We should amend the law to restore sanity.
Jim Shon, a former state representative, was a founding member of Common Cause and was on its first lobbying team for the Sunshine Law.