Coalition seeks transparency

The Nevada Freedom of Information Coalition announced Thursday that it is asking all members of the Legislature to sign a "transparency pledge" demonstrating their commitment to open government.

"They've been meeting in secret for many years," said Thomas Mitchell, coalition president and editor of the Las Vegas Review-Journal. "And right now they're doing it again."

As the legislative session winds down, lawmakers increasingly have been spending time behind closed doors in meetings of the so-called "core group."

The long-standing practice involves about a dozen leaders from both houses and both parties who gather to hash out details of the budget they later will approve in open hearings.

At a news conference Thursday at the Sawyer Building, Mitchell said the nonpartisan Freedom of Information Coalition was formed to promote and defend Nevadans' rights to access public records and the public decision-making process.

"This is the public's right to know," he said.

Mitchell said Nevada legislators showed they understood the concept of open government when they passed the open meeting law.

"They specifically exempted themselves, knowing full well this is a good law," he said.

Mitchell said Nevadans cannot reasonably evaluate their lawmakers without knowledge of what they have done.

"They are not our masters," he said. "They are our servants."

The group's Web site, nevadafoic.org, will provide a list of the legislators who sign the transparency pledge.

State Senate Minority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, told the Review-Journal recently that secret meetings of the core group have been taking place as long as he could remember.

Raggio, the longest-serving legislator in state history at 37 years, said lawmakers need some privacy so they can confer without being "bombarded by special interest groups."

Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, recently said the privacy of the meetings enables "talking in very frank terms about what needs to be done to produce a balanced budget on time, and exchanging needed information."

She denied that lawmakers are engaging in back-room deals and horse-trading for pet proposals.

"I know that's the perception, but it's really not," Buckley said. "Everybody in there wants to have a fair and balanced budget."

Mitchell sent a letter this week to all 63 legislators asking them to sign the transparency pledge. By signing the pledge, lawmakers agree to support:

• Policies and laws that will give Nevadans the ability "to be fully informed about government."

• Legislation to strengthen "the letter and spirit of Nevada's open meeting and public records laws."

• Legislation to make information on all government expenditures, including contracts, available to Nevadans.

• Efforts to make the results of votes of the Nevada Legislature available online within 48 hours.

• Efforts to have the text of any proposed bill available online for public view at least 48 hours before lawmakers vote on it.

Neither Raggio nor Buckley could be reached Thursday for comment about the pledge. State Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford, D-Las Vegas, also could not be reached.

Contact reporter Carri Geer Thevenot at cgeer@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-8135.