A threat to open government
Unfortunately, a bill under consideration by Utah lawmakers would turn that tradition on its head.
HB12, sponsored by Rep. Douglas Aagard, would make secrecy a hallmark of government in Utah. It would create a right to communicate in secret with an elected official. It would allow powerful interests to collude with these officials, making promises or cutting deals, without anyone else ever knowing.
That's something to consider next time a developer wants your city to rezone your neighborhood, or when some other volatile issue in your neighborhood seems decided before the public has a chance to speak.
As it now stands, state law operates under the presumption that all government records and all communications with elected officials should be open unless a good reason can be shown to do otherwise. The law allows for common-sense exceptions. Communications that clearly are private do not belong in the public arena.
But HB12 would replace this with a presumption of secrecy. It would cast a shadowy blanket over all e-mail, letters and memoranda. It would protect anything a developer or lobbyist wants to offer, propose or otherwise present in order to persuade an official vote. The public could appeal to make such information public, but they likely never would know it existed in the first place. No other state has such a law.
Utahns deserve to know what motivates their elected officials. They need to know that the people they entrust with tax dollars represent the public's interests fairly. They can't know these things unless they have access to information.
Most people would acknowledge that dishonesty is a growing problem in society. In any profession, most employees are hard-working and ethical, but a few look for ways to benefit themselves at the expense of others. In a representative government, one can expect a similar percentage to act dishonestly.
The difference, however, is that elected officials are given a public trust. That brings with it ethical obligations that transcend anything found in private business.
HB12 is confusing in that it doesn't seem to correct any recognizable problem. Even the League of Cities and Towns says it doesn't want it. And yet it continues to have a life.
Lawmakers should either kill this bill quickly or amend it to retain the presumption of open government.
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