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Florida's Pride: The Sunshine Law

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 25, 2007

Something odd happened when Bob Butterworth called a "press availability" in the Capitol rotunda last spring to announce excessive force might have been used at a Panhandle juvenile detention facility.

No one showed up.

The Department of Children and Families secretary told fellow members of the Commission on Open Government that Gov. Charlie Crist had wanted him to "notify the media right away about the problem that we have with these two children and a number of the officers involved."

"By about 10:15, no press showed up." So staff started calling friends in the media saying, "We've got an incident we want to tell you about that we believe the public has a right to know."

What's noteworthy about this story is not the embarrassing notion that reporters only seek information they can't have. Truth is, Tallahassee news bureaus are smaller these days and torrents of information compete for reporters' time. Another newspaper's bureau chief told me she remembered the incident. Video of a kid's broken arm made the story worth a four-hour round-trip the next day.

No, what's amazing about this story is the recurring narrative: Crist is rewiring state reflexes with a bias toward transparency.

Equally important, Crist has appointed a Commission on Open Government to review the state's famous Sunshine Law with an eye toward reform.

"These laws," Crist told members, "give the boss, the people, the opportunity to watch their government ... and understand what it may be doing that's good and what it may be doing that's not so good."

Unlike former Gov. Jeb Bush, who ran a closed shop, Crist can't wait to open things up.

He's already adopted two suggestions from the first public hearing in August. He's lifted the secrecy provisions over clemency material, giving inmates access to evaluations that regularly go against them. And he's created a Bill of Rights for people who want access to public documents and government meetings.

The commission, which meets for a second time this week in Orlando, is rounding up exemptions to public-record laws that have grown on statutes like barnacles on docks. In 1985, there were 250 exemptions. Today, there are more than 1,000.

While the task is enormous, the commission should think bigger still. The open-government commission should also make recommendations for the Legislature, which is exempt from the Sunshine Law because it's a separate branch of government.

Lawmakers have their own constitutional amendment on access, but it's not nearly so rigorous as the Sunshine Law. They are allowed to work behind closed doors and keep draft documents secret.

One thing that needs to go is the Legislature's abuse of the strike-all amendment, which allows lawmakers to strike all the language from a bill that's reached the chamber floor and substitute new language that's never been heard in committee, never been presented for public comment. On substantial changes, the practice should be stopped.

Local governments could learn a lesson from the sea-change in state government. The testimony so far suggests that citizens are most frustrated with their reception at county centers, city halls, police and sheriff's stations.

The open-government movement deserves more notice, too, from presidential candidates campaigning before a skeptical electorate. Florida's governor is modeling a philosophy that resonates with citizens. If only Washington would follow suit.

Butterworth says there's a side benefit to transparency: a better relationship with the media.

"We had a case from Fort Myers," he said. Two people were charged with abusing their children. DCF issued its routine response: The case is confidential. When the agency investigated, it found complexity and slip-ups. With the governor, Butterworth made an historic decision to join The Fort Myers News Press in a court action to make the records public.

"The employees were terrified. They were terrified that it would be the Department of Children and Families all over the newspaper being, you name it, dysfunctional, incompetent, whatever ... They were very surprised to wake up the next morning and read the paper with, of course they were hit, but a very well-balanced article that went through the case and the investigation.

"You can give a more balanced story if you have both sides."

It's an historic time for open government in Florida.

Let's hope the movement grows.

Rosemary Goudreau also is the vice president of the Florida Society of Newspaper Editors. She testified at the commission's first hearing against the strike-all amendment and for regular Sunshine Law training for public employees.

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