Open Records...You've Got to Be Kidding!

A reporter for the Chicago Reader has sued the city of Chicago to get a look at Mayor Daley's schedule, some Chicago Police documents about homicide statistics and a study that caused some personnel shifts within the police department. The suit says the reporter has previously filed Freedom of Information(FOI) requests to gain access to the information but the city has either denied or ignored them.

I applaud his efforts but suspect they will come to nothing.

Open Records and Open Meetings Acts look great on paper. The theory behind them is sound. We, as citizens, have a right to see how our government behaves. We pay for it. We should be able to watch it work. Or not work, as the case may be.

The problem: all bodies of government, in this case the City of Chicago, have great lawyers who know all the tricks to making sure the way the city really operates never comes to light.

Why would it be in Mayor Daley's interest to open his daily schedule to the public? Who knows what names would appear on it and what topics might be covered in the meetings he takes? And murder stats? A close study by a journalist could show manipulation of data, something that was unearthed in Chicago a number of years ago. Is there a reason to think procedures have changed since then? Statistics reflect what the keeper of the data wants them to show. Especially those of the Chicago Police Department.

The arrogance with which governmental bodies operate is well documented. There is freedom of information only if the bureaucrats allow it. If petitioned, they stall, using every legal and illegal method available to them, unless ordered by a court to respond. Unfortunately, that gives them the time to redact or cleanse the documents requested. Sometimes Open Records cases are just thrown out. Why? Aren't those making the rulings essentially bureaucrats themselves? Someday their decisions could come back to haunt them. Don't rock the boat.

Politicians and bureaucrats increasingly have shown their offhand regard for the rights of the people they represent. Our elected officials, and the people they hire, don't regard us as constituents. To them, we are "the citizens" and those who stand up and question them are "pests."

In 2011, "they" run the government and we have no right to question how they do it.