Editorial, Washington DC Examiner 6.23.06
Virginia and Maryland have freedom of information laws guaranteeing residents’ right to see documents and data held by the governments of Fairfax and Montgomery counties. Both states’ laws affirm in glowing rhetoric the importance of your right to see such documents and data, subject only to reasonable restrictions to protect things like ongoing criminal investigations.
So why do officials in both counties play games when asked to make some of the most important of those documents and data available for citizens to review? This question is especially perplexing because these officials were asked for compensation and related data for employees of the two counties’ governments.
Since there is no question but that the laws in both states explicitly state that such data are public records, it is especially troubling to encounter resistance. Knowing which public employees are paid how much is the first, most basic requirement for interested citizens seeking to assess the performance of local officials.
The games played by Fairfax County Director of Public Affairs Merni Fitzgerald are especially notable. The Examiner requested salary, overtime, bonuses, amount of tax-paid retirement benefits for the year and amount of tax-paid health insurance coverage for all Fairfax County government employees. The newspaper also requested ethnic and demographic data for each employee.
Fitzgerald initially balked at providing anything other than base salary, title and names, claiming the rest of the requested data are personnel records and therefore are not releasable. After much discussion, Fitzgerald produced only name, salary and title for the 11,000-plus Fairfax County government workforce who make more than $10,000 annually. After some further dickering back and forth, Fitzgerald provided summary data in response to our request for detailed information on the ethnicity and demographic characteristics of each individual employee.
Why is it important that taxpayers know how much public employees are paid, including how much they receive in perks? Without such information, it is impossible to know independently of official claims, for example, if employees or their supervisors are abusing overtime, as was discovered to be the case some years ago by The Fairfax Journal.
Without such information, it is impossible to know independently if county government’s total compensation practices are too low, too high or right on target in order to assure Fairfax residents the highest quality service. And without the ethnic and demographic information, it is impossible to know independently if minority employees are being compensated or promoted fairly.
But at least Fitzgerald did something. Montgomery County Executive Doug Duncan’s office didn’t even acknowledge receipt of The Examiner’s request for the same data for Maryland’s most populous and prosperous jurisdiction.
This is not the end of this saga, however, indeed far from it. The Examiner will pursue such cases as far as necessary because we believe taxpayers — you, the public — have the right to know how your business is being conducted at all levels of government. Stay tuned.