“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”
Those words, taken from the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, passed in 1791, might be more than 200 years old, but they remain relevant today.
This week is “Sunshine Week” in the United States. It is a week set aside each year to call the public’s attention to the importance of open government and the free press guaranteed in the First Amendment and the Freedom of Information Act, passed 40 years ago.
Sunshine Week began in Florida four years ago. In 2002, the Florida Society of Newspaper Editors developed “Sunshine Sunday,” in response to government efforts to restrict public information after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
An open government and unrestricted access to information is vital to the existence of a free press. It is the job of journalists to inform the public about what their government is doing, and that’s impossible to do without access to information.
Freedom of information applies to all levels of government – federal, state and local.
In the past few weeks, Westbrook has seen a perfect example of the absolute necessity of the importance of the public’s right to know. The arrest of Fire Inspector Lt. Chuck Jarrett was not made public until more than a month after it occurred.
Jarrett’s name never appeared in the public arrest log, and in response to inquiries from the American Journal as to why that was the case, the city has launched an investigation into the procedure for entering information into the public police log.
While it’s up to a court to decide Jarrett’s guilt or innocence, the simple fact is he is a public employee and he was arrested for an incident that occurred during his working hours, and the city should have made every effort to let the public know what was going on.
But that’s not the only example. Just about a year ago, it was revealed that Mayor Donald Esty signed a secret letter guaranteeing the use of more than half the spaces in the largest downtown municipal parking lot to the owner of the One Riverfront Plaza office building.
The City Council was not made aware of this letter until early 2005 when it was discussing the sale of the building, and it was not made public until the American Journal filed a freedom of information act request.
That’s a pretty clear case of city government trying to improperly act outside of public scrutiny. And without the freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment and the Freedom of Information Act, it’s hard to say if the residents of Westbrook would have found out about the deal before it was too late.
And that’s the charge of the press, to make sure the public knows what’s going on in their country, state and their hometown. Because knowledge is indeed power, and government needs to make sure it conducts its business out in the open, for all to see.
As President James Madison said in 1822, “A popular government without popular information or the means of acquiring it, is but a prologue to a farce or a tragedy or perhaps both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance, and a people who mean to be their own governors, must arm themselves with the power knowledge gives.”
What’s the harm?
This week, the Westbrook City Council’s Growth and Traffic Committee voted against the administration’s proposal to send an inquiry to the Maine Department of Transportation about a new intersection on the Westbrook Arterial, which would be essential for a new Wal-Mart on the Saunders Bros. property.
The vote was largely symbolic. City Administrator Jerre Bryant said the administration didn’t need the council’s approval to send the letter.
Indeed, the administration plans to send the letter despite the vote, as it should. There’s no harm in finding out what the city’s options are. All the administration is trying to do, as Bryant said, is be proactive by finding out whether the state will allow a new intersection there. What’s the harm in asking the question?
That’s what causes us to wonder why councilors felt so strenously about this matter that they felt compelled to vote on something they had no authority over.
Mike Higgins, assistant editor
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