A Window Into What’S Going On

Tue., Jan. 26, 1999

John Webster For The Editorial

E-mail is a terrific communication tool. Anyone who favors efficiency in government ought to welcome its use by public officials provided their e-mail is treated as an open public record.

During the past few months, Spokesman-Review reporters have provoked occasional controversy by requesting e-mail records from both county and city officials.

The technology is new but the controversy has been going on for many years: Depending on what they’re up to, public officials sometimes prefer to operate behind closed doors. Meanwhile, journalists and citizen activists prefer to know what’s going on, so that public policy debates occur before decisions are made.

In the 1960s and 1970s, this controversy led to the enactment of laws that guarantee open public meetings and open public records. Today, e-mail has revived this old issue in a new form. The issue must be resolved in a way that keeps government open and accountable.

Consider, for instance, the three-member board of Spokane County Commissioners. When two of them agree, a policy decision effectively is made. Such a decision could be made in an e-mail. Open meetings and open records laws require that the public find out about the issue and the reasoning as well as the decision. At the same time, e-mail can help busy officials communicate with each other in a timely and accurate fashion. Their e-mail, therefore, has become as important as their letters and public meetings for anyone who wants to keep track of county commissioners’ policy making. Same goes for many other public agencies - the City Council, police, Legislature, school boards and so on.

Therefore, as part of its news covering routines, the SpokesmanReview has begun to examine e-mail records. Without a doubt, citizen activists with a stake in public policy will do the same. This is simply a matter of healthy democracy. Openness builds the public’s trust. Openness helps public officials make better policy, informed by suggestions from those the policy affects. E-mail can help government operate efficiently, but efficiency must never come at the cost of public participation or political accountability.

Local journalism is essential.

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