Sunshine a major part of democracy

By The Daily Herald Editorial Board

The 5th Dimension’s “Let the Sunshine In” may have been about love and peace but, really, sunshine transcends those noble ideals and provides enlightenment, too.

Sunshine Week is coming up March 13-19. For those not in the news business, Sunshine Week was created six years ago by the American Society of Newspaper Editors to shine a light on the importance of open government and freedom of information. There has never been a more important time for us to discuss this.

The Illinois General Assembly in January sent to the governor a bill dubbed the “Redistricting Transparency and Public Participation Act,” which mandates that the House and Senate set up committees to hear proposals on how to draw new House, Senate and congressional districts now that the new census is out. The new boundaries will largely determine how political power is distributed throughout the state for the next 10 years.

The legislative committees will have to hold hearings throughout the state and notify the public in advance, but the law includes nothing about further hearings once the powers-that-be draw up new districts. So, unless Democratic leadership decides to hold hearings after they make up their minds on new maps — and we strongly encourage such hearings — you will no longer have a voice.

A new and improved Freedom of Information Act went into effect last year, but was quickly diluted when personnel records of teachers, administrators and most government employees were sealed, preventing the taxpayers who pay the salaries from seeing whether public employees are doing a good job.

That kind of opacity is still too prevalent in Illinois. While there are challenges everywhere to your right to know what government is up to, here are just two examples from the past several weeks that show the Freedom of Information Act is still a strong tool worth protecting. It has enabled us and others to learn:

Ÿ That it cost taxpayers almost $2.4 million when 78 Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago employees quit late last year rather than lose some accrued financial benefits. The average severance payout amounted to more than $30,500 and ranged between $357 for an administrative assistant and $103,509 for a lawyer leaving after 41 years.

Ÿ That a train leaving the Ogilvie Transportation Center on the Union Pacific North line in December had soot levels hundreds of times higher than the average street level.

Stories like these come from information we and regular citizens acquire through FOIA. So when candidates seeking your vote for local office next month cry for greater transparency, listen to them. Quiz them. Being open about what they do is as important as what they do.