EDITORIAL: Sunshine the best disinfectant

The battle for transparency in local government is a never-ending fight.

Today marks the beginning of Sunshine Week, which started in Florida in 2002, when that state’s Legislature tried to approve exemptions to open-records laws. In 2005, the American Society of News Editors launched a national commemoration of open government, coinciding with the birthday of Founding Father James Madison. The Review-Journal certainly joins in supporting those efforts, not just during Sunshine Week, but every week of the year.

A Review-Journal reporter asked the Clark County District Attorney’s office for public records pertaining to payments made to witnesses in criminal cases, payments that weren’t always disclosed to defense attorneys. Some documents were disclosed, but others withheld.

The newspaper sued to open those files, and a judge ordered some of the records be disclosed. But when that reporter — Bethany Barnes — made routine inquiries about a case management system being implemented at the DA’s office, she was told via email that because of the public records litigation, “we will not be communicating with you directly at this time.”

Message: Stand up for your rights to public records in court, and you’ll be punished.

Ms. Barnes also successfully sought records from the Nevada System of Higher Education, records that were partially redacted ostensibly for privacy or personnel reasons. It’s not clear which of those excuses justifies redacting the single word at the end of this sentence, from a Dec. 2014 email from Chancellor Dan Klaich complaining about the R-J’s inquiries: “I am so sick and tired of this continual [redacted].”

Another Review-Journal reporter, Neal Morton, asked the Clark County School District for a list of advanced placement elective courses available to students. The district produced some information, but then demanded $833.60 for information from 2013-14, saying an employee would have had to spend 20 hours weeding it out of an outdated software system.

Mr. Morton also ran into roadblocks investigating the case of Jeremiah Mazo, an elementary school teacher charged with molesting multiple students. His 2008 arrest on the same charges — which did not lead to a conviction — was sealed by the court, leaving parents and the public in the dark for years.

Up in Carson City last year, local government officials tried to make getting access to public records harder, not easier. Senate Bill 28 was sought by the Nevada League of Cities and Municipalities and would have made it easier for local governments to charge fees for records requested under the Open Records Law.

The bill was supported by the Clark County School District, the Nevada System of Higher Education, UNLV, Clark County, the city of Las Vegas, the city of Henderson, Metro Police, the state Department of Corrections and the Nevada Municipal Clerk’s Association. And each of those agencies had taxpayer-paid staffers lobbying for the bill and against the interests of the taxpayers. (In his testimony against the bill, Nevada Press Association Executive Director Barry Smith cited statistics that show fully 94 percent of records requests are filed by members of the public, not the media.)

In a rare victory for transparency, SB28 died in the Senate Government Affairs Committee, which is as it should be.

What’s the point? Government is constantly resisting the urge to open its books and records, whether to hide legitimate chicanery or to avoid the release of embarrassing material. Strong open-records laws and determined reporters are two of the key weapons in the fight to keep government open and accountable to the people.

Because the fight against government secrecy never ends.