Exercise your right to know, during Sunshine Week and beyond
Sunshine is great. But it only matters if you take advantage of it. The following situation has played out at public meetings recently:
Concerned resident: “I’m upset because I had no idea this was going on.”
Public official: “Well, we’ve had announcements on the radio. And information has been printed in the newspaper.”
Concerned resident: “I don’t listen to the radio and I don’t read the newspaper.”
It’s not the first time we’ve heard that. It likely won’t be the last.
But it is entirely unnecessary.
The above exchange is what we would refer to as being “voluntarily uninformed.”
In our society, we have ways of communicating information to the public. They include newspapers, radio, television and, yes, social media. (Those who communicate their messages well use them all.) But all of that effort doesn’t do much good if you don’t bother to take advantage of it.
Yes, in certain circumstances, you’ll get a note in the mail or a knock on your door alerting you about what’s going on. But that shouldn’t be expected.
When a basketball team plays a big game, no one expects a visitor to stop by and tell them the score.
When the coronavirus pandemic hit, no one expected to learn about it via direct mail.
Thomas Jefferson wrote that a well-informed electorate is a prerequisite to democracy. It’s each individual’s responsibility to make an effort to be well-informed.
So, buy a subscription to the newspaper. Listen to the radio. Watch television news.
Or take a step further and attend a public meeting. If the last time you attended one was for high school government class, it might be time to attend again.
And if (hopefully when) you attend, ask questions. Ask the reporters who are there from the newspaper and/or radio station. Ask the public officials.
If you’re not a regular visitor to such meetings, it can be difficult to follow what’s going on. It’s like trying to jump into a conversation everyone else has been having for years.
Of course, no member of the public is going to have time to attend every public meeting that might have an impact on their lives. That’s OK.
That’s what we’re here for. That’s what radio news staff is here for. That’s what Associated Press reporters in Indiana and across the nation are here for. We go to the meetings so you don’t have to. We explain what happened. And we’ve been to previous meetings, so we can also provide relevant background information.
This week is Sunshine Week, an effort the News Leaders Association launched to educate the public about the importance of open government and the dangers of excessive and unnecessary secrecy. It is incredibly important.
It’s not just important for newspaper and radio reporters. It’s important for you. Laws about open government ensure your rights to attend meetings, your rights to review documents, your rights to know what your elected leaders are doing.
After all, the sun could be as bright as ever. But it really doesn’t matter if you’re unwilling step outside to see what it’s shining on.
WASHINGTON — Senate Minority Leader Mitch Mcconnell fired a warning shot at Democrats against jettisoning the filibuster to push through President Joe Biden’s agenda over GOP opposition, threatening to shut down the most routine business in retaliation.
Speaking on the Senate floor, Mcconnell reminded Democrats that a single senator could prevent the chamber from convening before noon, require every bill on the floor to be read in full before debate, or bar noncontroversial nominees from moving through with speed. In a Senate that is split 50-50 between the two parties, he said, anyone could demand that 51 senators be present for any work — and Vice President Kamala Harris can’t break that tie.
“This chaos would not open up an express lane to liberal change,” Mcconnell said Tuesday. “It would not open up an express lane for the Biden presidency to speed into the history books. The Senate would be more like a 100-car pileup — nothing moving.”
With Democrats moving toward action on Biden’s agenda after getting his $1.9 trillion stimulus through the Senate without any Republican support, outside liberal groups are pressing hard for them to end the filibuster. The rule allows opponents to block bills from getting a vote with endless debate. As it stands now, Democrats would need support from at least 10 Republicans to proceed with votes on most legislation.
Numerous Democratic priorities — including voting rights legislation, background checks for gun purchases, a national $15 minimum wage and an immigration overhaul — are likely to face Republican filibusters.
In order to change the rules, the entire Senate Democratic caucus would have to agree and Harris would have to break the tie. Two Democrats — Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona — have said they won’t vote to get rid of the filibuster, but they will be under growing pressure to change their stance.
Dick Durbin of Illinois, the No. 2 Senate Democrat, on Monday argued that the filibuster has the Senate “hitting legislative rock bottom” and argued that at the very least, senators who utilize it should be required to speak throughout their attempted blockade of a bill rather than “phone in a filibuster.” He said the rule leaves lawmakers “unable to respond to crises and the clear wishes of the American people.”
“Defenders of the filibuster will tell you that it’s essential for American democracy,” Durbin said. “The opposite is true. Today’s filibuster undermines democracy.”
Mcconnell in his remarks
Tuesday mocked Durbin and other top Democratic leaders for arguing against the rule, after defending it when Republicans controlled the Senate. The Kentucky Republican also said that, if Senate rules are changed, policies will tilt dramatically each time control shifts from one party to the other.
Democrats could watch Republicans enact nationwide right-to-work laws, de-fund Planned Parenthood and expand domestic energy production on “Day One” the next time they’re in the majority, Mcconnell said.
Ford Motor Co. “has decided it will not honor its promise” to add new product to the Ohio Assembly Plant in Avon Lake and, instead, the autoworker intends to farm out jobs to Mexico, wrote a top UAW leader to union officials in an angry two-page letter dated Friday.
“Ford management expects us to hang our heads and accept the decision. But let me be clear, we are making a different choice,” wrote Gerald Kariem, UAW vice president of the Ford Department since January 2020. “We 100% reject the company’s decision to put corporate greed and more potential profits over American jobs and the future of our members.”
The letter written on union letterhead, which copied UAW President Rory Gamble and the labor organization’s two top lawyers, said Ford is expected to honor its contractual commitments to UAW members “and when it fails to do so we will take action.”
At the start of the 2019 contract negotiations, Kariem wrote, the bargaining team focused on job security and keeping manufacturing in the U.S. He noted that UAW Local 2000 worked hard to get Ford to commit to a $900 million investment to revitalize the plant near Cleveland for a product to be added in 2023.
An estimated 1,700 hourly employees work at the plant, which is referred to as OHAP, the UAW told the Free Press.
“The agreement outlined an exciting vision for the complete revitalization of the OHAP facility that would secure OHAP employment well into the foreseeable future,” Kariem wrote. “These contractual commitments were an enormous win for the UAW, for the great state of Ohio, the community of Avon Lake and most importantly the members of Local 2000.”
In November 2019, the Ohio press reported that Ford had committed to the $900 million investment and 1,500 new jobs to OHAP.
The plant builds the E-series Vans, Super Duty chassis cabs and mediumduty trucks.
Ford said Tuesday the issues of concern surfaced during the Q&A portion of a recent web chat with plant employees. Kelli Felker, Ford global manufacturing and labor communications manager, declined to discuss details of who was involved in the web chat.