This week is Sunshine Week, and I think yall should celebrate.Sunshine Week is, in part, a tribute to Reubin Askew, former Democratic Governor who was committed to transparency. He said he liked to put it all out "into the sunshine." As governor, he helped pass the Sunshine Amendment, which requires all public officials, candidates, and employees to disclose their financial records.
Askew still believes it's important for people to know what's going on in government.
"In most cases, it's easy to determine right and wrong (on an issue)," Askew said. "But if the people don't have the facts to judge it by, that builds resentment and they have resentment for government in general."So, Florida has a fairly long tradition in transparency and openness. Why is it good? It allows everyone from journalists to you to help keep tabs on your government. Public records requests are how all the Republican corruption in Tallahasse are coming to light (ehm, Kottkamp did not just volunteer all his fligth records, did he?) But, then what the heck is going on in the leg these days?
Democrats Sen. Tony Hill and Rep. Mia Jones are each sponsoring a bill that would give current and former employees of public education as well as their spouses and children an exemption from public records laws. That doesn't just mean that the public won't be able to find their personal health information anymore (which even I agree is a bit much) but that means you won't be able to find the names of the teachers at the local school, nor the school administrators.
Democratic Senator Al Lawson, who is also challenging Congressman Allen Boyd (yup, that's a primary in the CD2), introduced a bill in the Senate that would create a public records exemption for the cell phone records of current and former law enforcement, employees of state agencies, and some local governments. What?
I point out just the bills that Democrats are pushing, that go against the tradition of 'Sunshine' in Florida. I do it because Reubin Askew and the Florida Democrats are the ones brought this state out into the 'Sunshine,' and I'm not sure where we've gone off track.
Anyways, do me a little favor this week, enjoy the 'Sunshine' here in Florida.
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