April 27, 2012 02:13 PM UTC

Shame on You Joint Budget Committee

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• by: Konola

(Did they REALLY think nobody would catch them, in the age of the iPhone? Good grief. – promoted by ProgressiveCowgirl)

Maybe Colorado’s legislative sessions, committee meetings and hearings are only observed by policy wonks, political junkies and reporters. But that doesn’t mean that the Sunshine Laws that require public access to the sausage making in the capital aren’t important. If democracy is truly of the people, the people need to know that their representatives are doing the people’s work. Nobody, other than the legislators themselves, has the time to monitor each and every meeting as they occur, but that doesn’t mean that those meetings shouldn’t be open to review by we the people.

I recently wrote about how Craig Meis met with officials of other counties in a closed door meeting in Vernal, Utah. I’m not an attorney, so I don’t know if that meeting was an actual violation of the law, but I know for sure that it was a violation of the intent of the law. What came out of that meeting was a document that was filled with industry talking points, many of which blurred the reality of oil shale development in Colorado. Without any expert testimony or real public hearings this resolution has been rammed through county commissioner meetings.

Evidently flaunting of Colorado’s Sunshine laws has infected more than county commissioners. Under the Gold Dome, a newsletter that daily summarizes goings on in the capital while the legislature is in session had this to say about the recently passed budget:

“THE JOINT BUDGET COMMITTEE MET SECRETLY in the Senate minority leader’s office with other high-level officials, including a member of Hickenlooper’s cabinet, in another apparent violation this session of the state’s Open Meeting Law. The secret meetings, which are typically revealed via the short-messaging service Twitter, appear to be used to hash out partisan differences behind closed doors. The Denver Post’s Tim Hoover (@timhoover) broke the news of Wednesday’s apparent violation, sending this Tweet, “Found JBC in closed-door meeting in Senate Minority Leader Bill Cadman’s office. I walked in as they were wrapping up. #coleg#copolitics.” Other Capitol reporters sent Tweets revealing the legislators’ conduct. Megan Verlee sent this Tweet, “While we were all in hearings, @timhoover caught legislative leadershp, JBC, and gov’s budget chief in private mtg #coleg”

I have written before about democracy needing at least a two party system so that when laws are passed all aspects of impacts are considered. Clearly a multi-party system would be superior to a single point of view based in ideology. The more eyes looking at a problem, the more accurate the understanding, and the more viable the solution will be.

Another important aspect to democracy is an informed public. Jefferson, currently being dismissed by far right extremists, but nevertheless one of the authors of our constitution, was so passionate about being informed that he personally owned the largest library in the New World. Madison had this to say,

“A popular government without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a Prologue to a Farce or a Tragedy, or, perhaps, both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and a people who mean to be their own Governors, must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.”

The founding fathers were so concerned about citizens being informed that they mandated the printing of both the laws coming out of congress and the details of the proceedings creating those laws as early as 1789. Colorado went even further and passed laws mandating that any meeting of two or more public officials, that was not a casual social encounter, be open to the public. This law does two things: keeps the public informed and keeps the politicians honest.

Shame on you Joint Budget Committee for violating the sacred trust of we the people. It may be that you want to provide cover for some elected officials who will face their constituents in the voting booth this fall, but that is not your job. Your job is to inform the people of Colorado about how you are conducting the people’s business. Sunshine Laws were passed to do away with the tradition of smoke filled backroom deals; you have violated our trust by ignoring them.