Open Records Acts, Open Meetings Acts, FOIA, and other such assurances that
the "people" can have access to the records of government can have enormous
impacts on government service and effectiveness. However, this is a
balancing act between government accountability and the efficiency of
conducting government business, and can be abused by both individuals and
the MEDIA with self-serving agendas. Here in Knoxville, Tennessee, we have
been through about a year of excruciating turmoil over these issues.

Briefly:

A year ago, we had a situation in which some County officials made interim
political appointments in private without being "open" in how they made
their decisions:
See -
http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2008/feb/08/14-apply-for-dozen-empty-slots/
Excerpt - "The vacancies resulted from a state Supreme Court ruling
upholding the county charter and its term-limits provision, forcing out 12
officeholders who had served more than two terms. The commission filled
those seats on Jan. 31, 2007, but violated the state Open Meetings Act in
doing so. A judge threw out the appointments in October. The 11 remaining
commissioners will redo the appointments Feb. 20 and opened a three-day
application window Wednesday in an effort to comply with Chancellor Daryl R.
Fansler's request that appointments be open. In addition to eight commission
seats, the jobs of sheriff, trustee, county clerk and register of deeds are
officially vacant, with duties being handled by chief deputies."....

The Knoxville News Sentinel's editor has (rightly) hammered the County
government over these issues and keeps building a case for more open
government - "Open records proposal would boost Tennessee's national
ranking." See
http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2008/feb/13/open-records-proposal-would-boost-t
ennessees-natio/
Excerpt - "The recommended changes include writing the open records
ombudsman's office into law, requiring records keepers to respond promptly
to requests and to require giving a specific legal reason for denying
records to the public. Under Tennessee's current law, it can take a lawsuit
for citizens to find out why their requests have been denied or delayed. And
courts rarely order governments to pay legal fees even if they lose their
cases ....."

The Knoxville News Sentinel (newspaper) continually pushes an agenda of what
I would call "stark naked" government - you can not make any decisions
without being totally exposed in meetings or having every thought or
position questioned or criticized daily in the newspaper. It makes for both
nice righteous indignation and great news stories, but one wonders at a
point if the level of scrutiny does not actually make it difficult for
individuals to do the business of government.

Now there is an attempt to actually alter the "Sunshine Law" in Tennessee
and a corresponding backlash and demand for sanity - "The spotlight law -
David Lon Page says sunshine law has unintended consequences". See
http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2008/jan/20/the-spotlight-law/  
Excerpt - "The adage to be careful what you wish for is good advice when
considering the Tennessee Open Meetings Act, known as the sunshine law. The
common perception is, this law is good, especially in light of the ousting
of the Black Wednesday appointees in Knox County, but we should be careful."
Then - "While public deliberations have obvious benefits such as exposing
good-old-boy networks, they do not necessarily improve the quality of
deliberations. Posturing and grandstanding are common traits of public
deliberations, which lead to polarization rather than collaboration. County
Commissioners are likely to refrain from expressing their true thoughts and
withhold honest discussion. Dr. David Stasavage, a professor of politics at
New York University, has studied such drawbacks as well as benefits of
public deliberations among elected officials. He concludes, "Contrary to
received wisdom, private deliberation will, in many cases, actually be more
effective than public deliberation."

So - be careful. There are often many hidden agendas behind initiatives to
save us from the alleged abuses of government. The media wants a news
stories and anyone with a personal agenda wants "sunshine" cast on any
initiatives in government that they do not agree with. An Open Records Act
or an Open Meetings Act is a sword that can cut many ways. And WE could be
the ones that pay for it with (ironically) less effective and efficient
government actions and deliberations.

John

********************************
John T. Phillips
MSLS, CRM, CDIA, FAI
Electronic Records Management
Consulting, Education, Research
Information Technology Decisions
www.infotechdecisions.com
865-966-9413

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