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Eric Hartley: Open government for more than just a week

Capital Gazette Communications
Published 03/18/10

Every year around this time, when media organizations mark Sunshine Week to highlight the importance of open government, the dominant public response seems to be a collective yawn.

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If you did a poll, most people would agree government records and meetings should be open.

But when public officials keep things secret, in defiance of at least the spirit of the law, or when shortcomings of the laws are made apparent, there's usually no public response.

Aside from a few dedicated citizens, no one seems to care about a lack of sunshine until it affects them personally.

I'm reminded of what happened after Crofton...

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Report Abuse or Vote In order to allow the user community the ability to collectively rank the value of comments posted on the Capital Gazette websites we have implemented a thumbs-up/down system. All logged-in users may participate by voting up/down each comment. If others vote on your comment, your individual score will go up/down depending on the votes. Initially, everyone starts with a score of zero, and must earn credits to have significant voting weight. Individuals with higher scores will have more voting weight.    0 0

Make up Your mind - 2010-03-20 01:46:25

So you're castigating the police for not releasing a report that involves a juvenile because the law doesn't allow it? So you imply that the police are somehow wrong for following the law, written by the legislature, elected by the people? Eric you need to get a grip; the law says what it says and they seem to be following it. I don't see how a homicide investigation file would shed light on why the school system and Police Dept didn't talk better. You want more, get the Legislature (lawyers) to change the law and open the books. Just don't hold your breath.

unhide Comment hidden due to low ranking. Why is this comment hidden?

M Young - Crownsville, MD - Karma: Excellent

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