By Korrie Wenzel
The Daily Republic
Imagine calling a state office, seeking information. The official on the other line acknowledges that the information you want is, indeed, open to the public, but it’s too difficult and complicated to compile. He then lectures you on what he perceives as the dangers of giving out certain information.
Is that open government.
Or what if you call a state office and get routed through a series of roadblocks? Instead of getting through to the person in charge, you only speak to spokesmen. It may be days before you speak to the person you seek.
Maybe you ask to see a public record and later are followed, then harassed, by police. Or sequestered in a room for questioning.
At The Daily Republic, these things happen. They usually go unreported, and they are the hazards of the business as we pursue the news.
This week is Sunshine Week, a weeklong effort by the media to educate the public on the ills of closed government. All week, we publish Sunshine Week-based cartoons, columns and stories, hoping you’ll take notice and realize that without a fight, your world will close in on you.
Do you care?
It’s debatable.
And as we have said before on the editorial page of The Daily Republic, we feel most of you truly won’t care until it’s too late.
For each time the state Legislature votes to close its doors a little more — some lawmakers tried unsuccessfully in 2007 — in high-profile, publicized cases, there are myriad instances where the public, or the media, is turned away in attempts to gain basic public information.
For example, when The DailyRepublic a few years ago sought statistics for REDI Fund companies in the state, officials in the Governor’s Office of Economic Development swore those numbers were confidential, until the attorney general’s office persuaded them otherwise.
In 2002, when The DailyRepublic took part in a secret (and surprise) statewide audit of open records, a reporter was hauled in front of the police chief in Salem after the reporter asked to see records of crime logs and city salaries.
On the same day, a reporter who earlier had asked to see crime logs in Chamberlain was having lunch at an uptown restaurant when he was confronted by local police. An officer asked to see the reporter outside, questioned his motives and ran a check on his driver’s license.
Neither of these reporters said they were from a newspaper. They simply strolled in, posing as everyday residents, and asked to see records that are absolutely open to the public.
This is open government?
Another story: A reporter from this paper was covering an area county meeting in 2005 when the sheriff came into the room and asked to see commissioners in private. The visit was not on the agenda, nor was an executive session voted upon.
When the reporter asked the state’s attorney about the legality of the executive session, the reporter was berated with profanities.
These are good examples of how some officials in South Dakota operate. While we are assured by those in high places that our state is doing just fine with open government, people who seek public information often are harassed and delayed and must bypass roadblocks before that access is granted.
For the timid, or the people who simply don’t care to fight, real public access therefore is difficult to achieve.
So again, is this truly open government?
Try it yourself. Go to your city office and ask to see the salary of a key city employee. Or go to your police department and ask to see the crime log.
Does your school, city or county do a good job of conducting business in public? Are meetings announced and publicized, including committee meetings?
They should be.
Remember, the people still are in charge. If your elected officials try to keep you in the dark, vote them out of office. They are not elite — they are elected or hired to do a job for the people. If they have a reputation for doing things in secret or limiting public information, fire them.
Sunshine Week isn’t about media gripes; it’s about the media trying to help you realize that government cannot keep you in the dark. Newspaper editors and reporters see it all the time, and the good ones fight it.
As I sometimes tell people, it’s just business — nothing personal.
Open government isn’t just about gaining access — it’s also about being able to gain that access without fear, intimidation and roadblocks.
No matter what your leaders tell you, these roadblocks exist in South Dakota, and until they are gone, it’s impossible to say we are making headway in the quest for true open government.
Korrie Wenzel is editor of The Daily Republic in Mitchell, S.D. His e-mail is kwenzel@mitchellrepublic.com.
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