Our Founding Fathers created a nation in which those who make laws must answer to those who are affected by those laws. Such accountability depends on the public knowing what their officials are doing.
This week is Sunshine Week, created to remind us and our officials of the need for transparency in government. This annual commemoration of the value — and need — for public accountability coincides with the March 16 birthday of founder and president James Madison, who was one of our first and greatest champions of open government. It’s name is taken from the words of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis, who famously noted: “Publicity is justly commended as a remedy for social and industrial diseases. Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants ….”
Sunshine Week has been championed since 2005 by media organizations that include the American Society of News Editors and the Society of Professional Journalists at the national level as well as the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas and Texas Press Association and other state and national organizations, with funding support from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and others who recognize that an informed public makes better decisions at the voting booth pressures officials to honor the public’s will.
It might seem logical that public officials would want their constituents to know what they’re doing, if only to show how they’re serving the people. Unfortunately, too many people seek public office not to serve the public but to serve themselves by gaining imposing taxes and then misapplying them.
Luckily, those who built our government already had seen such malfeasance, and vigorously defended independent news media and their efforts to keep the people informed of government activities.
However, those who wish to escape public scrutiny continue to weaken the public’s right to know what their elected officials are doing and how their tax dollars are being spent. It’s a never-ending struggle between those who want to keep public officials honest and those who want to keep their own dishonesty secret.
The Rio Grande Valley is one place where the need for open government is proven time and again. Every year several elected officials face criminal prosecution for various misdeeds that range from improper hiring, preferential contracting and even self-enrichment at taxpayers’ expense. We can only imagine the harm such people could impose on the people of our region if they had more freedom to escape public scrutiny.
In Texas the fight between the forces of sunshine and darkness heats up every two years during state legislative sessions. Those who seek the keep their actions hidden from public view never seem to rest. We are fortunate that enough people remain committed to honest, responsive and transparent government to continue fighting to keep the disinfectant light of public scrutiny on our public officials and the offices in which they work.
May we always appreciate and support their defense of the public’s right to know. That defense keeps our system of government strong against those who wish to weaken it.
