Opinion from Mary Treacy, activist and citizen blogger:
We may be living in the Teachable Moment when open government takes its rightful place as a major player—the bulwark that it must be—in the local/state access arena. Images of a closed Capitol, news reports of sequestered politicos, clandestine sessions and sub-rosa text messages have combined to dawn on us little people that we may be shut out of the process. If we don’t know what’s going, we are silenced in the decision-making process.
At some level there is discussion of the need to take a look at the pillars of open government at the state level. The Data Practices Act and the Open Meeting Law deserve an airing, if for no other reason than that the issue of open government demands public attention. For me, the details of the law are somewhat less important than the airing itself.