Learning about open government

Open government should never become an adversarial issue. Unfortunately, it sometimes does.

In the spirit of defusing potential conflict with knowledge, state officials and the North Carolina Press Association have made some truly laudable efforts to get the word out on open government - the latest of which took place right here in our neck of the woods.

On Tuesday, the NCPA and state attorney general's office offered a training session for local government at the City Club in Gastonia. Attorney General Roy Cooper and other presenters offered overviews of open-government and
public-records laws to an audience of around 40 local officials from several area counties, including Cleveland. They also answered questions about the specifics of providing public information.

The presentation was fittingly titled "The Public's Business: Understanding and Following North Carolina's Open Government Laws." Records, documents, meetings - things that involve the government's use of the taxpayers' time and trust ultimately belong to the public.

Mr. Cooper, who helped write open-government legislation as a state senator, put it aptly before Tuesday's event: "Government business is the people's business and it should be done in the open. People have a right to know what their government is doing, and we want to help officials follow the law."

The attorney general's office and the press association plan to hold other sessions around the state later in the year. Also, their teamwork has led to the publication of a handbook called the "Guide to Open Government and Public Records" (copies available at http://www.ncdoj.gov). Let's hope that between the handbook and the training sessions, information about open government will ring out across every county, city and town across North Carolina.

In the handbook's introduction, Mr. Cooper advises government officials that when in doubt, they should work to "resolve the question in favor of openness." That sentiment echoes the spirit of the law itself, based on the very sane and very sensible idea that the public deserves access to government activities. Without that access, responsibility and accountability can whither while suspicion and distrust bloom.

To avoid those negative outcomes, to prevent misinformation or unfamiliarity from creating conflict, the attorney general's office and the press association have called upon knowledge. Open government is the right thing to do, and so is making people better informed about it.