Guest Opinion
By Edmond Ortiz

Considering my experience at the Herald, it has been challenging to concern myself lately only with straight news coverage without waxing philosophical of matters of equal importance. Like Britney going off the deep end. Or Rosie and The Donald pretending the rest of us care about their endless spat. Or if you really are smarter than a fifth grader — which apparently the Fox network exec who thought of that show, isn’t.

No doubt you know that mid-March features more than Spring Break and March Madness. There’s the annual Sunshine Week, a nationwide initiative that raises awareness about the importance of open government and freedom of information.

The U.S. House of Represen-tatives passed four critical bills with strong bipartisan support toward this effort. One bill makes clear that presidential records belong to the American people, not just the president who created them.

The Presidential Rec-ords Act Amendments of 2007 would reverse a Bush executive order that gave former presidents and their descendents nearly unlimited power to withhold or delay the release of their own records. If this becomes law, all presidents’ total historical records will be available to researchers.

It’s a stinging rebuke to – of all people – White House counsel-turned-Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, who had held up 68,000 pages of Reagan Library records that had been cleared for release. Things aren’t looking up for Gonzales right now.

A second bill would strengthen the Freedom of Information Act, improving public access to government information. A major element — initially eliminated by the Bush Administra-tion in 2001 — reaffirms that records that can be released by law, should be disclosed.

The new legislation would bolster the FOIA by ensuring requesters receive faster responses, and that those organizations and individuals who delay replies be held accountable. A provision would prohibit agencies that fail to meet the 20-day response deadline from charging fees. If necessary, a requester may now get help from an FOIA ombudsman.

A third bill will offer better protections for federal whistleblowers who report wrongdoing to authorities. A fourth bill will require organizations that raise funds for presidential libraries to disclose donor information.

The battle to shed more light on government and public information has seen wins recently. But state Sen. Jeff Wentworth has filed a bill that would make it more expensive for people to request large amounts of information from state agencies and school districts.

Though an advocate for open government, Wentworth said his bill is a response to a handful of parents in Austin-area school districts requesting volumes of information. It would be easy to sympathize with the plight of public information officers who spend untold amounts of time responding to such requests. But raising fees on everyone because of the actions of a few could hinder individuals who desire documents but have tight budgets.

All told, it was a good week/month for open government and the public’s right to know. Que the song — let the sunshine in.

Staff writer Edmond Ortiz can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .