No Media Bias Here . . .

In anticipation of "Sunshine Sunday," now a part of the even larger "Sunshine Week," the media-concocted, self-aggrandizing event, the Tampa Tribune has been printing an invitation for readers to share their stories of "problems or successes" in obtaining government records.

Here's the lead-in to the invitation, which has been running each day on the Op-Ed page: "Florida's commitment to open government is one of the state's greatest strengths, but every year the Legislature tries to weaken public access by passing exemptions to Florida's Sunshine Laws." So you see, no matter how important the public policy behind an exemption may be and no matter how significant the interest protected by an exemption is . . . to the media it's just another attempt by the Legislature "to weaken public access."

Yes, and I suppose that laws that make it illegal to sell firearms to convicted felons are intended "to weaken the Second Amendment rights" of such folks. Guess it's all just a matter of perspective. And it's fine for the media to have their own point of view on such matters . . . but let's not even pretend that the media is objective about these things.

And does anybody want to make a small wager as to how many "successes" get written about during Sunshine Week?

A Little Legislative Sunblock?

Open government advocates and media types reflexively cringe at the suggestion that there is such a thing as too much access to public records, but the Legislature should get credit for recognizing in recent years that there must be an appropriate balance struck between open government on the one hand and other legitimate concerns on the other. Here's the most recent example.

As part of the amendments to the Electronic Mail Communications Act, Chapter 668 of the Florida Statutes, the Legislature in 2006 enacted the following requirement in Fla. Stat. sec. 668.6076:

Any agency, as defined in s. 119.011, or legislative entity that operates a website and uses electronic mail shall post the following statement in a conspicuous location on its website:
Under Florida law, e-mail addresses are public records. If you do not want your e-mail address released in response to a public records request, do not send electronic
mail to this entity. Instead, contact this office by phone or in writing.

Now, getting lots of unwanted email is certainly inconvenient, wastes time and resources and carries at least some potential for damage to personal property through viruses and other sinister technological weapons, but most folks wouldn't put preventing "spam" in the same category as, say, protecting against unauthorized use of Social Security Numbers or the unwanted distribution or publication of a loved one's autopsy photographs (both of which the Legislature has addressed in recent measures).

So, if open government is such a good thing . . . why do we have to warn people about it?

Email Confusion in Tallahassee

Got a chuckle out of this comedy of errors, in which some of former Governor Bush's archived emails were temporarily "misplaced," then found. All's well that ends well, I suppose.

Boys Will Be Boys . . .

A little short on time this morning, so here's the short version of the mess that's been working its way through the system over on the east coast: State Attorney's 20-something daughter gets arrested and ends up in a restraint device at the local jail. Daddy/State Attorney commences an investigation of the jail and the Sheriff's office. Another local State Attorney convenes a grand jury to investigate the Daddy/State Attorney's investigation of the Sheriff. Grand jury returns no indictment. Daddy/State Attorney/Subject of the grand jury investigation moves to have portions of the presentment expunged or sealed under the provisions of Chapter 905, Fla. Stat. Local media oppose the motion, as do the prosecuting State Attorney and local Sheriffs from surrounding counties. Yikes.

The motion to expunge or seal portions of the presentment remains pending in Flagler County Circuit Court. Here's today's report from the Daytona Beach News-Journal, whose reporter consulted with your humble blogmeister for some insight into the confidentiality of grand jury presentments.