Open and Ethical Government
Contrary to what they teach our children, our Constitution guarantees only one thing, a republican form of government. I know that many like to claim that the Constitution guarantees our liberty. It does not. The Constitution simply “limits” the authority of the government to interfere in you natural rights, a concept our people have long forgotten.
It was envisioned that “the people” were capable of self rule and that knowledge would insure their liberty. Indeed, Thomas Jefferson stated “The functionaries of every government have propensities to command at will the liberty and property of their constituents. There is no safe deposit for these but with the people themselves, nor can they be safe with them without information.”
Our governments, be it federal, state or local, have established rules to insure that information is made available to the public. Unfortunately, some governmental entities obstruct the public’s right to know. You can pass all the laws in the world, but they mean nothing without enforcement.
Some will say that enforcement is adequate because of existing regulations. However, I know of two circumstances where government officials simply lied and no other action was taken.
As a medical provider, I must deal with medical liability issues. As a blackberry user, I know that my text provider (blackberry) maintains all text messaging for just such a purpose. Our city administration and administrators simply lied. A complaint was filed and nothing ever happened. (1)
In the other instance, our school district refused to comply with a TPIA request. They did provide their power point presentation, but they refused to provide their emails, and other related documents regarding an unnecessary project in which they planned to spend tens of millions of taxpayer dollars to the taxpayer’s objections. A complaint was filed, the state ordered the district to comply, and the district then told the state that it provided all the information. In reality, it had provided no additional information. The Board of Trustees and the Administrator simply lied. (2)
Both of these examples are but a symptom of systemic abuse of the taxpayer’s right to know for what, and how efficiently your government is spending your money. However, our elected officials, be they local, state or federal, feel that they are better qualified to spend your money. They know what is best for our economy, which rights we should be able to exercise and what to best teach our children.
If you dare question them, they will attack you and try to marginalize you. When it comes to fiscal accountability, they will talk the talk, but they won’t walk the walk. After all, their lifestyle is contingent on maintaining the status quo.
The solution to end this abuse is to elect honest people, launch investigations and prosecute those who have engaged in such fraudulent practices. Unfortunately you would have to have a dedicated and honest District Attorney to facilitate such action. We lack such a principled public servant in our part of the state.
You have a right to know how the government spends your money. You also have a right to know what, where, when, how and who your officials deal with when carrying out their charge. This blatant obstruction and violation of the public's trust must come to an end. For my part, I will try to facilitate openness in government. I will fight for the public's right to know.