Couldn’t have said it better
Arkansans from throughout the state and of all political persuasions—including two of my esteemed colleagues from this paper, one conservative and one liberal— have loudly proclaimed their support for the grassroots efforts to create both a constitutional amendment and an act to enshrine transparency principles and their operational details in the Arkansas constitution and Arkansas code, respectively.
Whoops, the attorney general previously declared that the word “transparency” is partisan and subsequently refused to approve its use in the titles of the proposed amendment and the proposed act. Instead, he approved the word “disclosure”—an alternative that, incidentally, was my idea. So I’ll use that locution hereinafter.
That language debate aside, the efforts to protect government disclosure in Arkansas clearly are not partisan. That’s because government disclosure isn’t left or right. It’s right or wrong. And government disclosure, indeed, is both right (as in correct) and your inherent right (as in warranting protection in the constitution).
Veteran journalist and academic Mike Masterson wrote here recently: “Now that lawyers have had their turn debating the proposed constitutional enshrinement of the state’s Freedom of Information Act back and forth for weeks, it’s the people’s turn. That means each citizen has an opportunity to make his or her voice heard by signing a petition to help place this hallowed document on the November ballot.
“Since the amendment would benefit we the people rather than special interests, I’m asking readers to please make the effort to sign [the forthcoming petitions to get the proposals on the November ballot] and help permanently champion transparency and accountability from our elected public servants. It is a rare opportunity to make an historical difference in a necessary freedom for us, our children and theirs, and we must stand and be counted for this rare opportunity…
“A proven legal champion of FOIA, [Joey] McCutchen [of Fort Smith] told me it’s been a struggle to get this amendment into voters’ hands. ‘We the People recently won another battle in the continuing war on our right to know, when Attorney General Tim Griffin certified the people’s two-pronged approach to making Arkansas’ FOIA the nation’s strongest by enshrining its principles in our constitution as a fundamental right,’ he said.
“McCutchen said the next shots in the struggle have been fired by the people launching this grass-roots statewide signature-gathering campaign fielded by volunteers. ‘Every legislator and politician in the state needs to join everyday Arkansans in parking lots across Arkansas in gathering signatures and donating to support our right to know,’ he continued. ‘Otherwise, elected government officials should face the dire consequences at the ballot box in upcoming elections. This bold move by the people to enshrine FOIA in our constitution has become necessary because of sustained governmental attempts to do our business in darkness by incrementally destroying sunshine laws.
“A win by the citizens in November ensures Arkansas will forever have transparency through the country’s strongest sunshine laws. A loss will give government a license to backroom deal-making. The stakes have never been higher for our right to know. The choice is where it belongs: In the hands of We the
People.’”
Another columnist at this fine paper, John Brummett, wrote: “A group pushing one of these state constitutional amendment initiatives [regarding government disclosure] consists of strange bedfellows. There is a left-of-center attorney [David Couch], [who is a] public initiative whiz and mild disrupter, a veteran legislation drafter [Jennifer Waymack Standerfer], a Democratic state senator [Clarke Tucker], a former Republican legislator turned independent [Nate Bell], a media association executive [Ashley Kemp Wimberley], and a law professor and fiery hide-peeling columnist coming from a kind of libertarian outsider perspective and a sweetheart in private, or so they say.” Hey, wait—I’m that last guy!
How dare my colleagues in the grassroots group Arkansas Citizens for Transparency—eh, Disclosure—accuse me of being a sweetheart! Hey, I’ve got a reputation to uphold.
Brummett went on to say: “What they may be showing is that people are, or can be, generally better than their political representation. It is that naturally adversarial people, given the opportunity, can deal with each other on a respectful personal level, rather than wallow in the divisive racket all around them. It is that they can speak truth to power with words [protecting the people’s right to government disclosure, in this case] that aren’t merely rhetoric, but quite possibly headed to enshrinement in the state constitution.”
Not only are these politically divergent columnists correct, they reflect the sound judgment of Arkansans overall. So, when you see those signature gatherers at the supermarket, make sure you John Hancock the petitions for both the “Arkansas Government Disclosure Amendment of 2024” and the “Arkansas Government Disclosure Act of 2024.” Your support will ensure that both freedom-protecting proposals are on the November ballot.
An antagonist once sarcastically said of my position on this paper, “nice work if you can get it,” because I repeated in a later column portions of an earlier piece critiquing that politico. Apparently, my later takedown was insufficiently original for his literary taste.
Well, if that was “nice work,” it seems that copying portions of other journalists’ columns, as I’ve done today, is downright fantastic employment!
The reality is that both being a columnist and a law professor are extremely rewarding in so many ways—other than remuneration. On that front, they’re closer to sufficient. But that’s only a concern if I prioritize wealth over helping the great people of Arkansas—which I do not.
This is your right to know.