Our new President recently issued a strong, straightforward memorandum on governmental openness and transparency.
An excerpt:
My Administration is committed to creating an unprecedented level of openness in Government. We will work together to ensure the public trust and establish a system of transparency, public participation, and collaboration. Openness will strengthen our democracy and promote efficiency and effectiveness in Government.
Government should be transparent. Transparency promotes accountability and provides information for citizens about what their Government is doing. Information maintained by the Federal Government is a national asset. My Administration will take appropriate action, consistent with law and policy, to disclose information rapidly in forms that the public can readily find and use. Executive departments and agencies should harness new technologies to put information about their operations and decisions online and readily available to the public. Executive departments and agencies should also solicit public feedback to identify information of greatest use to the public.
Government should be participatory. Public engagement enhances the Government’s effectiveness and improves the quality of its decisions. Knowledge is widely dispersed in society, and public officials benefit from having access to that dispersed knowledge. Executive departments and agencies should offer Americans increased opportunities to participate in policymaking and to provide their Government with the benefits of their collective expertise and information. Executive departments and agencies should also solicit public input on how we can increase and improve opportunities for public participation in Government.
Government should be collaborative. Collaboration actively engages Americans in the work of their Government. Executive departments and agencies should use innovative tools, methods, and systems to cooperate among themselves, across all levels of Government, and with nonprofit organizations, businesses, and individuals in the private sector. Executive departments and agencies should solicit public feedback to assess and improve their level of collaboration and to identify new opportunities for cooperation.
Apparently, Richmond’s City Council — and in particular, new Council President Kathy Graziano — has another view on how to conduct public business.
As reported by Silver Persinger on his excellent (and quite necessary) new Richmond City Council Reporter & Telegraph blog, our fine citizen representatives have decided that the “public” process of choosing an interim councilperson for the vacant 7th District council seat will be closed to the public. You can hear audio of the debate surrounding this action right here.
Only two councilpeople — Chris Hilbert and Charles Samuels — voted against this closed-door measure. Hilbert summed it up best in council debate:
“I find this whole process to be distasteful. No one in the 7th District elected any one of us. I find it particularly awkward to have to pick a representative for the residents of that district…. This process is going to be rife with potential pitfalls and pratfalls. And to the extent that it is closed we are going to invite that much more abuse to be heaped upon us. I would say that I rather this process to be open.”
Sadly, this is part of a disturbing trend. As you know from reading this site — none of our mainstream news sources have yet reported it — City Council voted in late October 2008 to shield the CenterStage project from Freedom of Information Act requirements. This action seeks to keep taxpayers in the dark about where their money will be going, and how it will be spent, for the next 99 years.
The ultimate question surrounding our council’s blatantly undemocratic actions of late: Where is the local press? Shouldn’t they be up in arms that those in our city government prefer to do their very public business out of the public eye? Shouldn’t they be using their resources to challenge all of this?
And why aren’t the citizens in the 7th District heading up to City Hall right this second with fire sticks, feathers and tar?
Oh, wait, that’s right — this is Richmond.
But enough is enough, folks.
Stay tuned…