Sunshine Week 2009: March 15-21

From North Carolina and Washington come two effective examples of how candidates at all levels of government — national, state and local — can be held accountable for their positions regarding government transparency and public access to information.

"The primary and general election seasons have seen a marathon of news reporting on the candidates. Thus far, both campaigns seem obsessed with convincing the electorate that their candidate would be the better commander-in-chief for the military. But which candidate better understands the importance of preserving freedom of the press?" wrote Napoleon Byars, an assistant professor in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at UNC-Chapel Hill and a former Air Force public affairs officer in a column published by The News & Observer, Raleigh, N.C.

"The Framers of the Constitution championed a free and vigorous press, declaring that it is essential for citizens to make informed decisions about the future of the Republic," Byars wrote. "Are we better informed today than we were eight years ago? If not, we are largely to blame for a lack of information. We need to get serious about holding whoever takes the presidential oath in the future accountable. The Constitution depends on it."

Read the entire column on The News & Observer Web site.

Sunshine Week has contacted the Obama and McCain campaigns several times since October 2007 asking for their responses to a brief Sunshine Campaign Questionnaire about open government issues. Neither has responded. Earlier candidates who did complete the survey were Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson (D). Former Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.) responded in part. Looking at candidates for state and local offices, the Washington Coalition for Open Governmentconducted a survey of candidates' position on access issues. The spreadsheet, including links to the completed responses, is posted online.

Sunshine Campaign materials — including print, online and broadcast ads — will be available online through the November elections in the Sunshine Campaign Toolkit.

To put it simply: "Access to Information is a fundamental human right."

So declared the 125 attendees of The Carter Center International Conference on Access to Public Information in The Atlanta Declaration and Plan of Action for the Advancement of the Right to Information. Former President Jimmy Carter has now sent a copy of the Atlanta Declaration to all heads of state and leaders of major international organizations and financial institutions around the globe, urging them to ensure their people enjoy the basic right of access to information.

The Atlanta Declaration also found that "The right of access to information is fundamental to human dignity, equity and peace with justice." Further, while developing a legal framework to ensure access is critical, it's not enough. Also necessary are building "an appropriate institutional framework" and raising public awareness through education.

To read the Atlanta Declaration and learn more about the conference, visit the Carter Center's Access to Information Project Web site.

The Sunlight Foundation has launched the "Let Our Congress Tweet" project urging Congress to reconsider rules against members posting to third-party Web sites, such as Twitter. As an article in Ars Technica explained, there's been a debate in the House of Representatives over rules that prohibit members from posting to any service other than the house.gov domain. Rep. Michael E. Capuano (D-Mass.) has proposed easing the regulation to allow posting to sites where the content will not be alongside commercial or political messages, the primary reason such action is currently disallowed.

Rep. John Culberson (R-Tex.), said he has been "using this new technology this past May, and have since been communicating with the public in real time through text messaging and live video streamed directly to the Internet…. I have been able to answer questions, take suggestions from the public and become more accountable in my day-to-day undertakings in Washington. I am the first to personally send a text message (through Twitter.com) on the House floor, soliciting YOUR input on current legislation."

"I have suddenly found myself on the front lines of a worthwhile campaign to open up Congress to every kind of communication on these new media outlets," he added. "This has happened spontaneously and naturally, which makes it even more interesting and meaningful because this story demonstrates the speed and power of these new media outlets.

"These new tools truly have the power to put We the People in every room in Washington, D. C.

"Congress urgently needs more sunshine," Culberson noted. "The House rules must be changed to give Members of Congress full unfettered access to new media in the same way we are given full unfettered access to old media."

To learn more about the issue, go to the Sunlight Foundation's "Let Our Congress Tweet" site, read the Ars Technica article, or visit Culberson's Web site.

Sunshine Week and PublishaLetter.com — a new Web site that helps people submit letters to the editors of newspapers around the world — have partnered to give the public an opportunity to write letters in an online round-table about open government issues.

Unlike the other submissions to PublishaLetter.com, this is not a typical letter to the editor process, but instead will operate as an online forum dedicated to open government. Letters will be linked under a special "Sunshine Week" icon for PublishaLetter.com readers, and there also will be a link from the Sunshine Week Web site.

PublishaLetter.com was founded to enable people to not only more easily comment on news issues, but also to post those letters online regardless of whether they are published elsewhere. While the site does not edit the content, it does screen for mass mailings, commercial offerings, gratuitous self-promotion, libel and similarly inappropriate content. To write a letter to the editor of a publication, users must go through the regular PublishaLetter.com submission process.

To get started, follow the links on the PublishaLetter.com home page, or click here to submit a letter or click here to read current postings.

The newest way to show your commitment to open government and Freedom of Information is by joining the Sunshine Week group on the social networking site LinkedIn.

Joining the group will introduce you to other members with similar interests, enabling additional outreach and contact opportunities using the LinkedIn social network.

Click here to begin.

In October 2007, the then-16 major-party candidates were asked to complete a brief Sunshine Week survey on open government. To date, neither of the major parties' presumptive nominees has responded. Earlier, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards replied to the survey.

With the help of an indefatigable team of researchers, we have collected articles, speech and debate transcripts and other records that give some insight into the presidential candidates' thoughts on access to government information. We have distilled them into brief overviews with links to the source material, including the completed survey responses.

Read more ....

Get the Goods

Whether you support open government or just think Ronnie and Donnie are cute — or maybe even a little of both — you now can get exclusive Sunshine Week and Sunshine Campaign merchandise from our online store at CafePress.com.

Traditional Sunshine Week logo merchandise is available in our main shop, and we've created two others. One features the Sunshine Campaign "spokesmammals" Ronnie & Donnie on T-shirts, sweatshirts, caps, mugs, clocks, notepads and more. The other utilizes the Vote for Sunshine campaign button imagery on similar items, including actual campaign-style buttons.

Any organization interested in co-branding products with its logo and the Sunshine Week merchandise should contact Sunshine Week Coordinator Debra Gersh Hernandez.