One argument for open government

Published April 17, 2015

by Patrick Gannon, The Insider, April 14, 2015.

A recent poll about North Carolina residents' opinions about public records and access to government information yielded disturbing results.

It came from Elon University and was released before "Sunshine Week" in March, a time dedicated every year to the importance of open government and freedom of information.

The Elon poll found that 62 percent of North Carolinians aren't aware that "sunshine laws" exist here to require governments to make their records available for public inspection, with few exceptions. And only two-thirds of those surveyed believe it is important for people to be able to get documents they want from the government. Also, just 69 percent said they believe all government meetings should be open to the public.

"Sunshine laws are foundational in a democracy because they provide the path for citizens to inform themselves about their government," said Jonathan Jones, director of the N.C. Open Government Coalition, in a statement accompanying the poll. "These poll results show that a great deal of work remains to educate North Carolinians about their right to know how their governments and elected leaders do business." The poll numbers cited above are scary for any number of reasons. Here's one: Media members get press releases every day from the governor's office, state legislators, state agencies and other taxpayer-funded organizations. Most of us know better than to simply take them and put them online, in the paper or on TV without scrutinizing them and ensuring accuracy and appropriate context.

Releases range from well-written and thorough to misleading or even false, in some instances. If we had to rely solely on what politicians and state bureaucrats told us, we would seldom get a full, accurate picture. They're likely not going to volunteer what they don't want you to know.

For example, state Senate leader Phil Berger's office recently sent out a news release lauding the passage of a compromise between the House and Senate on various tax-related changes, including the stabilization of the gas tax. The release also pointed out that the compromise includes a tax deduction for teachers who buy classroom supplies out of their own pockets.

But it didn't mention the more controversial aspects of that legislation. One provision requires homeowners who have debt forgiven by a mortgage lender as a way to avoid foreclosure to pay state taxes on that forgiven debt. In other words, if a homeowner received $20,000 in mortgage principal forgiveness, he or she would have to pay $1,160 in additional taxes, based on the state’s individual income tax rate of 5.8 percent, the Charlotte Observer reported. Some opponents criticized that as "kicking a man while he's down."

Also recently, Gov. Pat McCrory's office sent out a news release about his signing of legislation that "will provide added environmental protections for our state." That might have been true for parts of the bill, but the release also included somewhat misleading information about a section that some legislators and environmental groups believe could end up harming the environment.

The press release noted that the law "clarifies" that the Environmental Management Commission has the authority to make additional rules "if necessary" to address possible air pollution from hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. It did not mention that the former law would have required the commission to make additional air quality rules to address possible effects of fracking. The press release was headlined, "Governor McCrory Signs Legislation Strengthening Environmental Protections."

Do you trust government agencies to accurately tell you what they're doing? You probably shouldn't.

That's one of many reasons why public access to government records and meetings is so important.