‘Secrecy is a choice.’ WA open government champs celebrated, but more transparency needed | Editorial

The Tri-City Herald recently brought home the 2024 Toby Nixon Award. It’s not an Oscar or a Grammy, but we think it recognizes something far more important than acting or singing. The Toby Nixon Award recognizes a long-term champion of open government in Washington.

The state’s Public Records Act, passed by voters in 1972, is crystal clear why transparency is essential.

It declares, “The people of this state do not yield their sovereignty to the agencies that serve them. The people, in delegating authority, do not give their public servants the right to decide what is good for the people to know and what is not good for them to know. The people insist on remaining informed so that they may maintain control over the instruments that they have created.”

Government officials — elected, hired or appointed — are entrusted with power to serve the people, and that power must be exercised in the open.

The Washington Coalition for Open Government (WashCOG) chose the Herald for this year’s Toby Nixon award in recognition of the paper’s longstanding commitment to defending state open records laws and using those laws to shine a light on local and regional government.

Herald reporters use Washington’s Public Records Act to ensure that the public’s business remains public.

Whether it’s digging into criminal investigations against Franklin County officials or unearthing allegations against a local gubernatorial candidate, access to public records is key.

More routinely, the state’s Open Public Meetings Act ensures that not just reporters but any member of the public may attend meetings of government bodies. No city council, county committee or other body may do business in secret except under limited exceptions.

When journalists can obtain and scrutinize public documents, they help untangle complex stories, verify official narratives and hold leaders accountable. That empowers citizens to engage in meaningful debates about policies that affect their daily lives. The Herald’s work is a rallying cry for all who believe that a transparent government is a responsible government.

Both Democrats and Republicans prove sympathetic to secrecy when they get the chance. These days, President Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency encrypts records to prevent their release. Not so long ago, President Joe Biden’s White House refused to release virtual visitor logs that documented whom the president met during the pandemic.

State and local officials are just as prone to secrecy, and they have a greater opportunity to get away with it because they aren’t as high profile as the White House.

The state Supreme Court and former Gov. Jay Inslee rebuked state lawmakers for some of their efforts to keep the public in the dark. That hasn’t stopped legislators from inventing new ways to conceal the truth. These days they invoke a manufactured “legislative privilege” that they insist allows them to withhold many records from public scrutiny. Some, however, are not on board.

Five current and two former lawmakers have pledged not to use legislative privilege. The current officeholders are Senate Majority Leader Jamie Pedersen, D-Seattle; Sen. Tina Orwall, D-Des-Moines; Sen. Ron Muzzall, R-Oak Harbor; Rep. Gerry Pollet, D-Seattle; and Rep. Paul Harris, R-Vancouver. The former officeholders are former Sen. Mark Mullet, D-Issaquah, and former Speaker of the House Frank Chopp, D-Seattle.

WashCOG honored all seven at its awards event. We encourage Mid-Columbia representatives and senators to join this fledgling transparency caucus.

Secrecy is a choice.

Government officials could choose transparency. They could choose to embrace the notion that the people are partners in governance, not subjects to rule over.

Too often they choose to conceal when they coordinate with special interests, when they let outsiders write bills for them, when they negotiate tax increases and when they email among themselves.

Choosing secrecy allows them to hide incompetence, laziness, malfeasance and anything else that might hurt them when re-election time comes around.

Washingtonians passed the state Public Records Act by initiative more than 50 years ago. The people demanded transparency when lawmakers would not give it.

That precious gift to a future generation survives only as long as champions fight for the public’s right to know.