The Advocate’s Corner: This Coalition Is Yours to Make

I am writing directly to my fellow grassroots transparency warriors individually for the Advocate's Corner reboot column.  You and I, the little guys who read the missives and listserv, please think of your awesome self as the tip of the spear of a mighty Coalition.

If you doubt that, I want to call your attention to an April 1, 2024, Associationof Washington Cities statement.  Disregard the date, it’s true this was said:

Despite, or perhaps because of, the laments of the news media and the Washington Coalition for Open Government about the state of open government in Washington, legislators took little action this session to change the Public Records Act (PRA) or Open Public Meetings Act (OPMA).

. . .

AWC also worked with Rep. Joe Schmick (R–Colfax) on a bill, HB 2307, to try to reduce the impact of vexatious public records litigation by creating a fast internal appeal process and giving judges more discretion over what they consider when making penalty decisions. But the bill failed to move out of committee due to overwhelming and unrelenting opposition from the news media and the Washington Coalition for Open Government. We do appreciate the many city officials who provided input on the proposal.

We hope to continue to collect the data that shows the negative impact vexatious litigation has on cities’ ability to respond to other requests. It is unfortunate when some individuals monopolize and abuse the PRA to the detriment of everyone else.

I share this, and I wanted you to read this truth last year, but here we are, needing this truth even more in the humid summer of 2024.  You and I members are the first line of defense, with the last line being lawyers and the penultimate line being legislators.  If you accept this ground truth, you will succeed in the Coalition for Open Government and the cause of furthering open government.

Not every Coalition member or award winner has to change the history of nation-states or this state.  Advocating for open government in your own community is a good start.

So when you see something is wrong, speak up.  Write a letter to the editor.  Write your elected officials.  Use oral public comment if you must.

I also encourage you to, if you have time, start a blog or write a book to write up news supported by public records and public meetings footage about an institution.  The legendary philosopher on democracy Timothy Snyder has written in On Tyranny;

“It is institutions that help us to preserve decency. They need our help as well. Do not speak of “our institutions” unless you make them yours by acting on their behalf. Institutions do not protect themselves. They fall one after the other unless each is defended from the beginning. So choose an institution you care about—a court, a newspaper, a law, a labor union—and take its side.”

Furthermore, when you see something is being done right, speak up too.  Because when there is that positive affirmation, we can perpetuate a strong open government culture by affirmation and kindness.

There is only so much our Board and Staff can do.  Beyond a certain point, there is just… us.  Look at your membership as being one fort or ship in the here and now.  Nobody sanely asks you to be the new USS Enterprise or Joint Base Lewis-McChord.  Just help out a little where you are and apply some scrutiny.

As Heather “Newsbrooke” Brooke once shared with The New Statesman, “The whole point of public officials is to serve the people. They’ve got to expect public scrutiny.”

Applying public scrutiny is where I started: I saw my community college's board of trustees repeatedly retreat at ritzy restaurants while tuition was increasing. I found this out through public records in… 2003. No typo.

I was just one voice raging against taxpayer waste as I saw the ladder of educational opportunities come up behind me via rising tuition. Then Initiative 884 - a billion-dollar sales tax increase—came, and I used examples of government waste to speak against the community college President urging the tax increase. The voters chose my side in November 2004.

See, anybody with a little passion and the full light of open government can do what I did. It’s open source. We have a listserv for help, coaching, or just a second opinion.

Ultimately, we have to build out the open government we seek.  Or forever accept the dimming of the lights.  As we campaign for open courts, for a Public Disclosure Commission that actually works, for truly accessible public meetings and to retain public records – we need to campaign everywhere.

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Finally… I have a survey out in the field to gauge WCOG members' interest in me doing more to promote open government. Please fill out—it’s 100% anonymous!