Chesterfield honchos will not soon forget the name Brenda Stewart. Her efforts revealed the Chesterfield-to-Kansas round-trip flight that county officials chartered to ferry County Administrator Lane Ramsey during the New Year’s holiday — for the low, low price of $18,170.12. Did she get this information because she’s an insider who can sneak out with documents in the dark of night? No. Ms. Stewart’s bombshell rocked the courthouse after she filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. News of other questionable charters soon followed. The FOIA cast sunshine on items that otherwise might have stayed in the shade.
Without the FOIA, Chesterfield leaders merrily could have jetted around the Commonwealth and country — at taxpayer expense — and no questions asked. Instead, the retired Defense Department analyst shone a spotlight on the county’s profligate ways. Because of Ms. Stewart, a new phrase may enter the government-travel lexicon in Chesterfield: commercial flight.
Stories such as Ms. Stewart’s are stark examples of why the FOIA is more than a law for the media. It is the people’s act. News organizations may be the watchdogs, but they protect the public’s money and power. Ramsey’s excellent adventure was wrong, and the public had a right to know its details. Thanks to the FOIA, everyone now does.
Open government laws do more than expose secrets government leaders want hidden. Ann Fulmer discovered that when she tried to learn why her DeKalb County, Georgia, neighborhood was deteriorating while home assessments — and property taxes — skyrocketed. Ms. Fulmer combed through the deeds, tax records, and utility bills available at the courthouse. Ultimately she and a group of friends uncovered a real-estate scheme involving massive mortgage fraud and homes abandoned to drug traffickers. Ms. Fulmer’s investigation resulted in a cleaned-up neighborhood and several criminals sitting in jail.
What does the Georgian consider an integral tool in fighting back? “Without open records, we would not have been able to prove that it was illegal.”
The FOIA and all open government laws are not just provisions to make newsmen’s lives easier. These laws are about the interests of people such as Ms. Stewart and Ms. Fulmer. Open records exist to protect citizens from government gone amok and criminals who would destroy a neighborhood — among other things. Those who behave badly like to operate in the shadows. Open government laws make that harder to do.
In dismissing Ms. Stewart, Chesterfield Board of Supervisors chairman Dickie King blamed her crusade on “the fact that we don’t agree with what she says.” Judging by the public outcry over the Ramsey flight, almost everyone else does agree with her. Thank goodness Ms. Stewart has the freedom to be informed. So do we all. And Sunshine Week reminds the nation of that right.