Dear Reader,
Welcome to Sunshine Week, an annual observance by news organizations across America to shine the “light” of public scrutiny onto the entities that are paid and trusted to represent the people’s interests.
“I wish we could just celebrate sunshine instead of fighting for it,” said Lisa McGraw, public affairs manager for the Michigan Press Association. “You know, you pay all this money every year for all these services. And it's your right to know what those people you've entrusted with that money are doing with it.”
Sunshine Week has been around since 2005. I’d like to say it won’t be necessary at some point but suffice to say that the Michigan Press Association and other transparency advocates have been fighting for 10 legislative sessions to pass a law applying FOIA and Open Meetings laws to the Legislature and governor’s office. Michigan is one of only two states that don’t.
The lack of openness at the top of Michigan’s government structure is a high-profile and egregious example of why Michigan consistently is ranked as one of the least transparent states in the nation.
But on a day-to-day basis citizens are stymied at all levels of government – police agencies, school boards, road commissions. Delays, denials, redactions all are part of what McGraw said seems to be a “default response” to citizen and press requests for information. And while the laws dictate what the public is entitled to, the only recourse to get it is for someone to sue the public body.
It’s only fair to note that most government officials follow the law in good faith, and are also saddled with complying with inconsistent laws, a lack of state oversight and the staffing burdens of serving public demands for information. Better laws would serve the government agencies as much as the public, McGraw points out.
“We've talked about getting an Open Government Commission … that would be an appellate body rather than having to go to court, because going into court is so costly and time consuming,” she said. “It would be much more efficient and much less costly.”
Perhaps that’s something we’ll celebrate in future Sunshine Weeks. In the meantime, news reporting agencies will keep doing our part by shining light into the corners of government. And you can do your part, as McGraw points out.
“Go to a meeting once in a while. It's not thrilling, but if you show up they know you're watching, right?” she said. “Why are taxes going up? Why is there a big hole in the ground two blocks down from me? Why is there a big hill of garbage forming a mile away from my house?”
All good questions. In honor of Sunshine Week, I asked you, our readers, to give us suggestions on things to investigate. You had some great ideas and we’ve picked three of them to look at more closely.
As with any news tip, we know not all of these may merit deep dives. But at the very least, we plan to explore these three topics. I’ll share the results of our investigations as we find out more.
Ann Arbor: We are looking into a possible settlement in a racial discrimination case in the city of Ypsilanti.
Flint: Looking deeper into the circumstances of a car crash earlier this year that involved an officer of Genesee County Sheriff’s Department.
Kalamazoo: Taking up the cause of a citizen seeking agendas and meeting minutes for the Kalamazoo County Environmental Health Advisory Committee.
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🎧 Listen to this week's episode of Behind the Headlines to hear the full discussion on Sunshine Week between John Hiner and Lisa McGraw. Listen here on Spotify. And be sure to hit "follow."
John Hiner is the vice president of content for MLive Media Group. If you have questions you’d like him to answer, or topics to explore, share your thoughts at editor@mlive.com.
