Allowing them to meet in secret is akin to tyranny

TROXLER E-mail: Click here Archive

© St. Petersburg Times
published March 11, 2002

I am a child of the South but I envy New Hampshire for its state motto: Live Free or Die. You have to admit, that is not a namby-pamby motto.

In the same spirit, sometimes I wish we had kept as our national flag the coiled rattlesnake and the slogan: Don't Tread on Me.

Both of these sentiments date back to the time when the American people were ruled by the British king. We fought a war to throw off that king so we could govern ourselves.

But when we created our own government, we wrapped it in chains so that it could not become a new tyrant. We did not trust it.

Neither do I trust the government now. It is true that properly supervised, the government can do good. That ought to be its goal. But I do not trust it. I do not trust it with my money. I do not trust it with unchecked power to pass laws over me. It is a dangerous servant that has to be watched constantly.

Watched.

Men and women who enter the government are invariably tempted to use its power for their own benefit, or for a select few.

That is human nature and cannot be avoided. There is no system of government that, unwatched, does not become corrupt.

Unwatched.

The defense of liberty begins with keeping an eye on the government.

Here in Florida, our state Constitution and our state laws require this watchfulness. All of the meetings, and decisions, and documents of the government are supposed to be open to the people of Florida for inspection.

What an incredible weapon! What an amazing power that the citizens of Florida hold over their government!

As long as Florida's state and local government is forced to operate in the "sunshine," it cannot scheme and plot in secret.

But the government hates these laws.

The men and women who rise to power in the government hate these laws.

They say: How much more "efficient" the government could be in secret!

And you know, that is true. The government could act corruptly much more "efficiently" if it could act in secret.

Each year, the Florida Legislature proposes dozens of new loopholes in Florida's open-meetings and public-records laws.

Only a few of these loopholes are wise and necessary.

For example, a company should not be forced to reveal a true trade secret. Police ought to be able to investigate crimes without tipping off the crooks. A lot of information the government keeps on individual citizens is private and ought to stay private.

It is fine by me if we don't let terrorists (or anybody else) have the schematics to the nuclear power plants.

But . . .

Most of the loopholes that the Legislature writes are wicked. Special-interest groups, such as nursing homes, doctors, pharmacists try to use their power to cloak their mistakes in secrecy, to hide them from the citizens.

A lot of things that supposedly protect "privacy" (for instance, whether a person's dog has been vaccinated) actually are laws meant to benefit an existing special interest, in this case veterinarians who do not want any competition from mail-order pet pharmacies.

In this year's ongoing session of the Legislature, the most amazing loophole proposed is House Bill 1951, which would allow elected government officials to meet in secret when awarding government contracts.

That is simply incredible. Deciding how the taxpayers' money will be spent is exactly what the citizens should MOST witness.

There is no way that the Legislature can claim to be "conservative" when it is writing new loopholes into the public-records laws.

Secrecy is the opposite of "conservative."

Secrecy is radical. It is dangerous. It is proposed by people who crave the power of King George III, and every other despot.

If our Legislature votes to say that government should have the legal power to do these things in secret, then the people of Florida should use their power this November to elect a different Legislature.

I have just the motto for that occasion, too, borrowed from the state of Virginia: Sic semper tyrannis. Thus always to tyrants.

-- You can reach Howard Troxler at (727) 893-8505 or at troxler@sptimes.com.

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