Sunshine Week

Putting a spotlight on open records

Public records belong to the public. That should be obvious, but too many government officials in Nevada still treat public documents like classified intelligence. Records are for their eyes only, and their job is to protect those documents from the prying citizenry like the CIA warding off Russian spies.

That mindset runs counter to Nevada law. The state Public Records Act exists to “foster democratic principles by providing members of the public with access to inspect and copy public books and records.”

One of those principles is that government works for the people, not the other way around. Another principle is that voters need accurate information on what government agencies and elected officials are doing in order to make informed decisions at the ballot box. How could you give a performance review to an employee who hides his work from you? Are you really the boss if an employee can keep secret information needed to judge his performance?

Public records are important both in principle and in practice. This is especially important to remember during Sunshine Week, which starts today and runs through Saturday. Sunshine Week is a nationwide celebration of the importance of public information. Unfortunately, as the Review-Journal’s Michael Scott Davidson highlights in his front-page story today, there have been many times during this past year when government officials have opted for the shadows over the sunshine.

The most recent incident — and perhaps the most brazen — was a ruling by Judge Richard Scotti last month that the Review-Journal must destroy an autopsy report that had already been released. Judge Scotti’s ruling was so unprecedented that he and the courtroom lawyers were reduced to debating how the newspaper should return the records. A Nevada Supreme Court panel quickly overturned Judge Scotti’s ruling as an obvious violation of the First Amendment.

The Metropolitan Police Department, however, continues to deny news organizations other important documents related to the Oct. 1 massacre, including 911 calls and footage from police body cameras.

There are plenty more instances of government agencies behaving badly. The state of Nevada is refusing to tell taxpayers how much it paid former employees for unused sick and vacation leave. Those payouts have totaled more than $45 million in the past few years.

Then there are the Public Employees Retirement System’s attempts to keep you from learning the names of retirees collecting pensions that can top $200,000 a year. The Supreme Court heard arguments on that case, brought by the Nevada Policy Research Institute, last week.

There aren’t many cloudy days in Las Vegas. But when it comes to government accountability and transparency, Nevada needs more sunshine.