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A Times Editorial
In an arrogant assault on Florida's sunshine laws, a state Senate committee hastily approved 14 exceptions to the public's right to information.
© St. Petersburg Times, published March 14, 2002
Do you suspect your county commissioner or legislator doesn't really live in the district? In Leon County, not so long ago, there was one who didn't. But if Sen. Rudy Garcia, R-Hialeah, has his way, no one would ever know. He ambushed Florida's sunshine law Monday night with an amendment making secret the home addresses and telephone numbers of all public employees and officials.
This bill (CS/SB 2416) would apply to all documents, including deeds, licensing records, voter registrations and even tax rolls -- anything that might reveal, directly or indirectly, where your public servants live. That's a blank check for enormous mischief and fraud. As justification, Garcia offered only the fatuous and arrogant argument that public access to such matters of record serves no "official" public purpose. Has Garcia not read the Florida Constitution, or is it that he just doesn't care?
Here's what it says:
"Every person has the right to inspect or copy any public record made or received in connection with the official business of any public body, officer, or employee of the state, or persons acting on their behalf, except with respect to records exempted pursuant to this section or specifically made confidential by this Constitution . . ." Any law to the contrary "shall state with specificity the public necessity justifying the exemption and shall be no broader than necessary to accomplish the stated purpose of the law." (Emphasis supplied)
You don't have to be a lawyer to understand that -- Garcia isn't -- but what's doubly shocking is that two lawyers voted for it as Garcia's governmental oversight committee passed the bill out 6-1. One was Locke Burt, R-Ormond Beach, who is running for attorney general. The other was Rod Smith, D-Gainesville, a former state attorney.
Fourteen bills creating exceptions to Florida's "sunshine" laws churned out of the committee's final meeting. How they did it was as horrible as the result.
Garcia allowed just three minutes to discuss each bill.
He permitted no public testimony.
Most of the action consisted of significant amendments that were not available to the public until 75 minutes before the meeting.
The worst of them, Garcia's own amendment to 2416, was a handwritten amendment that he withheld until the moment the bill came up. In its original form, the bill applied only to lists such as employee rosters.
To call this abuse of power is to put it kindly. The bills are as tainted by the process as by their content. The Senate would disgrace itself to pass any of them.
That applies particularly to SB 1600, which would seal the adverse incident reports concerning doctors whose mistakes kill or injure people; CS/SB 646, which would allow agencies to close meetings where competitive bids are evaluated; SB 1762, which would hide the identities of teachers whose students do well or poorly on the FCAT and other assessments; and SB 648, which would exempt any identification contained in the peer review of accountants that a separate bill proposes.
Apparently they have forgotten Enron. They have obviously forgotten the Florida voters who merely 10 years ago resoundly amended the Constitution to reaffirm open records and open meetings as fundamental rights of the people and fundamental obligations of their elected servants.
The situation in Garcia's committee was so grotesque that some senators were joking about sending the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to search for anyone in Florida still covered by the sunshine laws.
It would be more helpful to search for any senator who still respects them.