The Importance of Transparency in Government
Thomas Jefferson told us, "An informed democracy will act responsibly."
Jefferson’s dream for our system of government was based on the premise that people are smart enough to determine the path of their own lives and communities, as long as they are well informed. This is what drives the need for transparency in government.
As we stand in the midst of the Information Age, I believe Jefferson would be delighted at the wealth of opportunities now available to the common citizens to find information about how our society is run. Of course, a key ingredient here is a cooperative and sincere effort on the part of citizens and elected officials to foster a culture of openness.
In some cases, requests for information are sometimes looked upon by government officials as a nuisance, and from time to time there have been citizens that merely “test the system,” inundating clerks with large requests. But for the most part, many citizens see this as a useful tool to help them root out mismanagement or questionable practices.
It’s very much in line with the sentiment that Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis relayed in his famous quote, ”Sunlight is the best disinfectant.” (Incidentally–one of the most prominent national organizations for open government is called the Sunlight Foundation.)
More locally, I belong to an organization called the New Jersey Foundation for Open Government. NJFOG helps craft, refine, and promote measures for open government an,d more importantly, the group acts as an educational and support organization for citizens requesting information from government through the Open Public Records Act (OPRA) or seeking information on the rules of the Open Public Meetings Act (OPMA). You can find us at www.NJFOG.org or on our new Facebook page here.
My running mates and I believe in the same dream as Jefferson. Even though Annelise Catanzaro and I were removed from the Transparency Committee, established by the Town Council in 2009, by a retroactive ordinance that cut short our participation in late 2010 (a full year in which the committee was never even convened), we still strive to keep the public well informed about the workings of our town government. A great example is on our website here where we made available the full year-to-date check register for the town in a searchable and sortable Excel format.
This is a great example the power of OPRA and the sincere desire to inform citizens in as much detail as they might desire. We hope that this is a culture that we can foster well into the future of our community as we come up with new ideas to help educate the public.
Tom Wyka is a concerned citizen, vice president of NJFOG and a Democratic candidate for Town Council.
JB
10:29 am on Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Doesn't sound like a new concept to me - "transparency." As you wrote, with OPRA laws, anything and everything, as it should be, is available to the public. Do you believe someone's hiding something? If so, it's there for the asking.
Tom Wyka
1:00 pm on Tuesday, July 19, 2011
JB - Thanks for your response!
I think what we need now is as many people in government leadership as possible that do not view "Transparency" as a chore but as a productive step in engaging the public, informing them, and opening debate on the operations of government. Those in power are in the best position to foster that culture and that's one of the reasons why we're running.
JB
2:09 pm on Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Council meetings are open to the public (other than the portions allowed by law), we have OPRA in place...what else will you do to provide this "transparency"? It's become a popular political buzz word, hasn't it? How will you "engage" the public in government? People will only attend meetings that directly impact them. They'll complain to each other, and do very little else about anything. Wasn't that your own view before you became active in politics? It's human nature, IMO.
Tom Wyka
11:29 pm on Tuesday, July 19, 2011
One thing about council meetings, JB - is that it's still very much an insider's game. If you are a newcomer to the meetings (as I once was) - there's very little explaination to the public as to what is going on. It's as if it's assumed. "Non-controversial" items are put on the consent agenda that are certainly controversial (e.g "rehabilitation zone" for a high-rise at 272 Parsippany Road). I do remember Jimmy Vigilante approaching me after one of my first meetings to discuss a matter I questioned in more detail - and I was grateful for that. In some towns politicians have taken it on their own to send out email newsletters to interested parties (maybe some too busy to stop by and sit through the meetings). It's a two way street when you think about it.... Did the public necessarily lose interest in government - or did it just get too hard to keep track? Sometimes the resulting apathy worked well for elected officials. That's the cycle we have to break.
Tom Wyka
11:37 pm on Tuesday, July 19, 2011
I was accused of being Tolstoy by the Patch interface :-) so I have to finish up in a separate box. I'm actually surprised that our $22K a year webmaster didn't offer up more tools on great ways to keep the public engaged (anyone in the online world should be well versed in them) - but we'll be talking about that more as we go. To sum up - I think in the long run even the politicians will understand that a better educated public is better for the well being of our community. Otherwise we can play taps for Jefferson's Dream - and I'm not ready to do that - not with all we have available today.