Column -- SDOG

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For just a moment, all South Dakotans should applaud. Our Senate State Affairs Committee did something striking, maybe even courageous in opening government to the public. Certainly it was unexpected.

Don’t think this fight is over. But take just a short time to savor the success.

The committee took a bill sponsored by Sen. Dave Knudson, R-Sioux Falls, and with his blessing stripped it of all its perhaps well-meaning but damaging provisions that would have made our government more closed to its citizens.

It left intact a very good provision that establishes an appeals procedure – officially a dispute resolution process - when citizens and government can’t agree if information is open to the public – the very same provision recommended unanimously by Attorney General Larry Long’s government openness task force.

The committee also, on a 6-2 vote, approved a bill sponsored by Sen. Nancy Turbak Berry, D-Watertown, who thinks that government ought to prove why citizens shouldn’t have access to information – rather than the other way around.

"All we are doing is saying we recognize the democratic principles of open government," Turbak Berry said.

Yes, it’s that simple. So we shouldn’t be surprised that a Republican-dominated committee approved a bill supporting basic rights of South Dakotans, even if it is so vigorously opposed by Republican Gov. Mike Rounds.

But let’s be honest. Until the committee voted, it looked almost certain that South Dakotans would lose – and government would win.

Rounds has threatened – through minions, not directly to citizens – to veto any bill that presumes South Dakotans are more important than elected officials and bureaucrats. He doesn’t believe that South Dakotans have a right to know what government is doing, and that government should have to prove the need for secrecy.

We can take heart with the committee vote, which demonstrates not every legislator agrees with Rounds’ throne-room pronouncements.

Of course, there are legitimate concerns about privacy and security. That’s why there are exceptions in Turbak Berry’s bill. Not everything is open to the public. That’s why we have a provision for government to temporarily deny information to the public – pending an appeal arguing the information should remain confidential.

The goal is to make government more open to South Dakotans.

The goal isn’t to publicize private, confidential information. The goal isn’t to give terrorists or other criminals valuable security information.

That’s why we have exemptions – types of information that will remain confidential. That’s why we have the safety valve – a way to avoid mistakenly releasing personal and security information.

Committee chair Tom Dempster, R-Sioux Falls, asked Turbak Berry if she was sure information was protected.

"How can I as a private citizen be sure that you, in drafting this bill, have sought all those exceptions (for privacy of records)?" he asked.

He can be sure, because Turbak Berry’s bill has been modeled after others around the country that have a long history of success. And if we find a mistake, there’s still the safety valve.

But it’s important to look deeper into Dempster’s question, because it’s not private citizens at all who are opposed this bill. It’s government. It’s legislators. It’s city councils. It’s school boards. It’s county commissions. It’s the governor.

It’s not private citizens.

So applaud the Senate State Affairs Committee and its courageous, dramatic approval of these bills.

At least for a brief time, the sun shone on South Dakota government.

Chuck Baldwin is executive director of South Dakotans for Open Government. He also is journalist in residence at the Al Neuharth Media Center at the University of South Dakota.