DeSantis’ office makes a mockery of Florida’s public records laws

These are punishing times for Florida’s public records law.

Too many local governments have long made sport of requests for public records. They demand to know why someone wants the information (that’s illegal). They say there’s no one around to deal with the request (also illegal). Or they ignore the request (again, illegal).

Lawmakers get in on the fun by passing bipartisan bills that carve out new exceptions every year, rarely doing anything to make public information more accessible. With them the goal is subtraction, not addition. Not wanting to feel left out, the executive branch of state government under Gov. Ron DeSantis is doing its part to thwart transparency by slow-walking public records requests made by citizens and the media alike.

Let’s check a few examples from the governor’s “open government” portal:

■ On June 17 a Leesburg Commercial reporter asked for information about the people who had applied to serve on the St. Johns River Water Management District governing board, which had some vacancies. The reporter sent her request on a Monday, and noted her deadline was mid-day Thursday. She got her answer about two months later — on Aug. 15. All that time just for copies of applications.

■ On July 3, an anti-tax activist from Tampa sought the names of people who had applied for several governor-appointed transit boards in her region. It took six weeks for the governor’s office to provide her with a simple list of names.

■ On July 2, a Tallahassee attorney asked for the applications from people seeking posts on various inland navigation districts throughout Florida. Once again, it took six weeks to get a response to a very basic request for information.

■ On April 30, a reporter with the Northwest Florida Daily News asked for a copy of a deposition in the case of Mary Beth Jackson, the Okaloosa County school superintendent who was suspended by DeSantis shortly after he was sworn into office in January. It took nearly three months to fulfill the reporter’s request, and only then after the newspaper got its attorney write a letter.

Many of these requests were straightforward. They didn’t involve digging into old, musty attic files or censoring privileged or exempt information. This is just how business is conducted at the governor’s office.

We’re keenly aware that some readers might view these criticisms as self-serving. It’s true that the public records law is frequently used by the media to gather information for news stories.

But Florida’s public records laws weren’t written for the news media. They were intended to give all Floridians access to government documents. As the examples above show, the governor’s office fields requests for information from a variety of people with a variety of interests.

We asked the governor’s office for a response, but considering its track record we probably should have provided more than a day to answer. Maybe a few weeks.

It’s possible there aren’t enough people to process all of the requests. If so, that’s no excuse. It’s a problem that needs fixing, so fix it. Florida’s a big state; hire enough employees to provide answers in a timely manner. Open government is not just a nice idea; it’s mandated by the state constitution. We’ve written about government transparency a good bit recently. Earlier this week we noted (in horror) that the Orlando Utilities Commission, a public agency, surrendered decisions on a public records request to Universal Orlando, a private company.

Our sense of urgency is driven by what seems like a slow-motion effort to undermine openness. We’re struck by the absence of powerful political figures willing to champion open government, coupled with an apparent public lack of concern. No one really seems to care.

Here in Florida we still have a good thing; a set of laws that force our government to tell us what its doing. Our Sunshine Law is the envy of many states.

We would do well to remember what a couple of different songwriters have told us over the years: You don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone.

We cannot continue allowing government-in-the-sunshine to go dark.