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Opinion
Public’s
business should be open most of the time
May
13, 2003
A
South Carolina lawmaker recently proposed that the governor’s
cabinet meetings be given the authority to close its doors to
the public. That would be a mistake.
Governor Mark Sanford
did close his first meeting with his cabinet but was met with
such a clamor that he immediately reversed course. He
apparently sees the necessity of keeping government as open as
it can possibly be to reassure the citizens of the state that
their business is being handled properly. He did, after all,
campaign on an open-government promise.
It may not seem to
be much of a concern for some people, but it goes right to the
heart of public trust. Public trust should be automatic where
public business is concerned. Maybe Governor Sanford’s lead
will have a positive effect all around.
IT
NEEDS TO BE, FOR, unfortunately, public business is
too often conducted in ways that make it difficult, if not
impossible, for the public to know what’s going on in their
behalf ….. or against their interests. It happens all over
nowadays at just about every level of government, including
school boards, county councils and other public bodies.
If
elected officials and/or appointed public personnel don’t
practice openness in government – as many promise as
candidates but fail to follow through if elected – public
trust always suffers.
If the people who depend on the
public’s trust don’t denounce secrecy in government
deliberations, they must, by inference, endorse or condone
it.
Public trust must be earned by all who handle public
business. There’s a good reason to use the word public, too.
ANYONE WHO DOESN’T know that without
having to be told shouldn’t have a government job in the first
place.
There is a public perception, as wrong as it might
be, that public officials and employees are spoiled and need
to be reined in occasionally. That’s not true, of course. The
great majority of both are diligent and honest public servants
and take public trust seriously. Nevertheless, anytime public
business is handled behind closed doors, it adds to that
negative perception.
That’s something that every elected
official should think about anytime he or she has the urge to
shut the public out.
Editorial expression in this feature represents
our own views.
Opinions are limited to this page.
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