Opinion: Legislature should put teeth in the state's Sunshine Act
March 15, 2009 |
OPINION
Reading Eagle Editorial
The Issue: Sunshine Week reminds us of the need for government to operate openly.
Our Opinion: Too many elected and appointed officials want to operate behind closed doors.
Today marks the beginning of Sunshine Week, an annual event that serves to remind one and all that government at any level works best when it operates in the harsh light of the public eye.
But far too often, those who serve in the government, whether it be in the Oval Office, on City Council or on the local school board, would prefer to operate behind closed doors. Some will find any excuse to perform the people's business without the people having the opportunity to observe the proceedings.
In Pennsylvania, which just this year implemented its much-improved Open Records Act, illegal secret meetings have become a joke, because those who knowingly engage in such sessions are well aware that no punitive measure will be taken even if the courts rule that the private gathering violated the state Sunshine Act.
A perfect example took place last month in Reading. City Council, at the order of Solicitor Charles D. Younger, closed a meeting to the public to discuss changing a process to be used by a proposed $250 million sewage-treatment plant that the city is required to build.
Younger, thumbing his nose at the state law he swore to uphold when he was appointed solicitor, used the provision in the Sunshine Act that allows public boards to discuss in private session identifiable lawsuits as the justification for excluding the public. There was no such identifiable complaint; only a consent degree forced on the city by the U.S. Justice Department as well as federal and state environmental agencies.
Nevertheless, the board closed the meeting, and there were no repercussions.
Last year the members of the Wyomissing School Board engaged is a similar illegal activity when they secretly agreed to keep confidential a $480,000 donation to the school district as part of a tax-abatement deal linked to a $70 million residential-retail development called Wyomissing Square.
Two years earlier it was the Oley Valley School Board that approved a lease with Nextel Spectrum Acquisition Corp. but refused to provide members of the public with any details about the lease, citing a nondisclosure agreement, which the school board had no right to sign.
Two years before that it was City Council, again, this time signing a confidentiality agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice in a matter concerning the fate of Fritz's Island and the former Angelica Lake.
The Reading Eagle filed a lawsuit alleging City Council violated the state Sunshine Act when it entered into a pact without informing the public.
In each case the information eventually became public, but in each case it was after it was too late for anyone to object to what was being done.
In each case there were no repercussions for the elected officials and appointed solicitors who acted outside the scope of the Sunshine Act.
That is why during Sunshine Week we again call on the Pennsylvania Legislature to put some teeth into the Sunshine Act, just as it put some teeth into the Open Records Law last year.
Establish fines - personal fines, not fines the city or school district would pay - for those board members and solicitors who willfully, knowingly violate the act.
Because as we said, government works best when it operates in the public spotlight.
Reading Eagle Editorial
The Issue: Sunshine Week reminds us of the need for government to operate openly.
Our Opinion: Too many elected and appointed officials want to operate behind closed doors.
Today marks the beginning of Sunshine Week, an annual event that serves to remind one and all that government at any level works best when it operates in the harsh light of the public eye.
But far too often, those who serve in the government, whether it be in the Oval Office, on City Council or on the local school board, would prefer to operate behind closed doors. Some will find any excuse to perform the people's business without the people having the opportunity to observe the proceedings.
In Pennsylvania, which just this year implemented its much-improved Open Records Act, illegal secret meetings have become a joke, because those who knowingly engage in such sessions are well aware that no punitive measure will be taken even if the courts rule that the private gathering violated the state Sunshine Act.
A perfect example took place last month in Reading. City Council, at the order of Solicitor Charles D. Younger, closed a meeting to the public to discuss changing a process to be used by a proposed $250 million sewage-treatment plant that the city is required to build.
Younger, thumbing his nose at the state law he swore to uphold when he was appointed solicitor, used the provision in the Sunshine Act that allows public boards to discuss in private session identifiable lawsuits as the justification for excluding the public. There was no such identifiable complaint; only a consent degree forced on the city by the U.S. Justice Department as well as federal and state environmental agencies.
Nevertheless, the board closed the meeting, and there were no repercussions.
Last year the members of the Wyomissing School Board engaged is a similar illegal activity when they secretly agreed to keep confidential a $480,000 donation to the school district as part of a tax-abatement deal linked to a $70 million residential-retail development called Wyomissing Square.
Two years earlier it was the Oley Valley School Board that approved a lease with Nextel Spectrum Acquisition Corp. but refused to provide members of the public with any details about the lease, citing a nondisclosure agreement, which the school board had no right to sign.
Two years before that it was City Council, again, this time signing a confidentiality agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice in a matter concerning the fate of Fritz's Island and the former Angelica Lake.
The Reading Eagle filed a lawsuit alleging City Council violated the state Sunshine Act when it entered into a pact without informing the public.
In each case the information eventually became public, but in each case it was after it was too late for anyone to object to what was being done.
In each case there were no repercussions for the elected officials and appointed solicitors who acted outside the scope of the Sunshine Act.
That is why during Sunshine Week we again call on the Pennsylvania Legislature to put some teeth into the Sunshine Act, just as it put some teeth into the Open Records Law last year.
Establish fines - personal fines, not fines the city or school district would pay - for those board members and solicitors who willfully, knowingly violate the act.
Because as we said, government works best when it operates in the public spotlight.