I t’s Sunshine Week in America. That’s the label the American Society of Newspaper Editors has put on a seven-day focus on open government. But in Olympia the forces of darkness remain hard at work.

Here’s a reminder: When people are making decisions that directly affect taxpayers, it’s our business. We have a right to know what they’re doing and why they’re doing it. But, as always, too many people minding the public’s business would rather work behind closed doors.

This time, the issue is the collective bargaining agreement negotiated for state workers by public employee unions. Union negotiators and their Democratic friends in the Legislature want to keep the details of negotiations secret.

Until recently, state employees didn’t bargain collectively for salaries and benefits. The Legislature generally provided annual pay hikes in the budget. But in 2002 the Legislature changed the law to give employees collective bargaining rights.

Next month, when the Legislature adopts the budget, lawmakers will also be approving the contracts negotiated last fall. Lawmakers don’t get to change the details. It’s up or down. Don’t bet on down.

The watchdogs at the Evergreen Freedom Foundation think we should understand how those contracts came about. Last November EFF filed a public records request, asking to see each side’s proposals and the bargaining notes made by the state’s negotiators.

The state appeared ready to hand them over and duly notified the unions, who quickly filed for a permanent injunction to block the release.

They claim public disclosure “will politicize the bargaining process … chill participation by rank and file union members … (and) undermine collective bargaining by inviting the public, the media, and other non-parties into the negotiation process.”

Who’d have thought these folks were so bashful? It’s not as if EFF had asked to place a bug in the confessional at St. Peter’s.

And what’s this nonsense about politicizing the process? The whole thing is intensely and inherently political.

As for the public being a “non-party,” let Michael Reitz, who handles legal and labor issues for EFF, explain.

“The public is paying union contracts, state negotiators, and union negotiators in many cases,” he says. “The public is funding every side of this negotiation. And yet we’re told we can’t see the documents.”

In a familiar refrain, the folks who want to shut us out tell us that it’s for our own good, because we benefit from candid, if secret, negotiations. But in depositions urging the court to seal the records, negotiators sound more concerned about their own well-being.

For example: “If I knew that my comments would be available for public review, I would not be comfortable speaking until I had carefully thought through all of my comments.”

Then there’s this from a ferry worker: “If I, in the heat of negotiations, said I didn’t give a damn about … complaining customers and it was (published), I would be subject to ridicule and confrontations with customers who might take offense.”

Maybe. But possibly these folks who can’t seem to keep their wits about them in the heat of negotiations, should give someone else their seats at the table. Besides, potential embarrassment doesn’t justify an exemption from disclosure laws. If it did, we’d never again get to see a city council meeting or legislative hearing.

House Democrats have introduced legislation, HB 2326, to exempt collective bargaining records from public disclosure. Using Orwellian newspeak, they call it “an act relating to protecting the integrity of collective bargaining for public sector employees.” What they mean is they want to keep the public, media and Legislature in the dark.

There’s no reason to keep this stuff secret. It should be available for public and legislative scrutiny. EFF didn’t ask for the records until after negotiations were concluded.

Attorney General Rob McKenna, who has called for a review of the 300 plus existing exemptions from our public disclosure law, questions this one. While he accepts the need for confidentiality while negotiations are ongoing, his spokesman Janelle Guthrie told me Monday, “… if the bill prohibits disclosure of records after the proceedings, we will oppose it.”

The era of “trust me” government is over. In often cloudy Olympia, lawmakers have no business blocking the sunshine.