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Life in the sunshine

I know, I know. I’ve been woefully inattentive to my blog again.  I’m sorry, but sometimes I just don’t know what to write.

This time, though, I want to make sure all of you know about Sunshine Week.  It’s not just journalists who are affected by how open or secretive government behaves; as citizens, everyone has a right to know what your government officials or agencies are up to.

Governor Charlie Crist is a pretty big supporter of open government, but many times journalists don’t get much support on issues of government in the sunshine.

For instance, any emails or phone calls that government officials make, related to official business, is public record, even if that correspondence or contact is made via personal email or phone.

The Bay County Commission office actually prints out every email the commissioners receive and put it in a public file that you can go and ask to look at or make copies.

Citizens can sometimes run into some roadblocks when requesting public records, so it’s important to arm yourself by knowing the law and what the agency must do to accommodate your request.

Visit http://www.sunshineweek.org/sunshineweek/orgs for some great links to Open Government websites.

Happy Sunshine Week!

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