It is time for the Sun to shine

Spring is my favorite time of the year. Many people have been talking about having spring fever. Spring is that time of the year when the sunshine seems to be brighter and brings needed warmth after the long, dark, and cold days of winter. There is no more beautiful sight than the warm sunshine hitting upon the earth in the early days of spring when all the trees are budding and flowers begin to bloom again. Contrast that picture with the cold, dark, dreary days of winter when the earth is turned at an angle away from the sun and one cannot feel the warmth of its rays. In winter, it seems dark and cold all the time and in spring, when the days are longer, the sunshine makes more daylight by which to enjoy outdoor activities.

When I heard that the elected officials in Wisconsin were hiding from their elected duties, I became disturbed about their childish activity and thankful it was a long way from Georgia. However, recently, I learned that we actually have politicians in Georgia who wrote a bill calling for secrecy in how our tax money will be spent. I was not just disturbed, I was outraged.

To all politicians everywhere let it be known clearly that you do not have much of a trust level now, but when bills are introduced calling for secret meetings and keeping the voting public from knowing what is being done with their tax money, the trust level goes below zero. I wish I could be in the room when politicians come up with those hair-brained ideas. Just imagine with me the thoughts of public officials who concoct a plan to hide from the tax paying public what they are going to do with our money.  There have been a few times in the almost eight years I have been writing this column when I have been angry, but I cannot remember the last time I was as mad as I am today, thinking about the decision to call for secret meetings where tax money is going to be pledged without public awareness of the amount or extent of the long-term indebtedness.

When we loose freedom of the press and move meetings into closets without public access, we are close to loosing all our freedoms. Several years ago, when I chaired a special panel to review our county charter, I was given a copy of the “Open Meetings Law” for our state. I made sure that every gathering of our panel kept to the very letter of the law and beyond, so that what we were doing would be public. There were no secret meetings. There was no time when a few of us gathered to make decisions that were later pushed through in the public meeting. I would not have allowed that, and no one on the panel ever asked that we break the law in that way. After hearing about the secrecy intent of the new bill that has been introduced, I read, once again, the general requirements of the open meeting law. It is very clear that no meeting of any agency at any level of state, and local government that receives any tax money can be conducted in private. You will excuse my outrage at this point, but I must ask those who favor such nonsense “What part of NO don’t you understand?”

Some would say I am being too hard on our elected officials. Others would say I am not being harsh enough. The truth is, in an open society no one should be afraid to express their opinions on any subject where taxpayer’s money is to be spent. We might hear from some who advocate for closed meetings. Others cry out because they feel disenfranchised. There are many lessons I have learned over the years when dealing in the political world, one of which is that we must ever be alert staying aware of what is taking place in the halls of government. With the busy lives we are living, we have the freedom of the press and open access to meeting records to keep us informed about what is taking place in government decisions. To be fair, the majority of the elected officials I know strive to keep the public informed.  We need to be ready to affirm those who are willing to let the sunshine in upon all their meetings and decisions that affect the taxpayers all the time.

Ray Newman March 2011, All Rights Reserved