Sunshine Still Stalled

Outrage can be the mother of irony at our hallowed Statehouse, home of the hollow gesture.

Last week, the Iowa Senate voted 49-0 to subject the Iowa Association of School Boards to the state's open meetings and records laws. Legislators are, rightly, outraged at charges of financial shenanigans at the IASB, which gets $1.1 million in dues each year from public school districts.

Clearly, some sunshine is needed.

But while that amendment on a big education budget bill cruises, another measure that would put real, sharp teeth in the enforcement of those same sunshine laws is stalled in the House.

And with the last grains of sand tumbling down the 2010 legislative hour glass, there's a growing chance that stalled is where it will stay.

And if that happens, it will be a nice legislative victory for its staunch opponents, including the IASB. See? Irony.

The bill, House File 777, cleared the Senate earlier this month. It would create the Iowa Public Information Board, a five-member panel that would have considerable power to enforce open meetings and records statutes.

Iowans who think their city council, school board or county supervisors are breaking the law can file a complaint at no charge.

That's a big improvement from today, when taking on local officials means a pricey lawyer and a District Court date.

It's an idea that's languished for three years since a 10-member, bipartisan committee recommended the change after six months of hearings.

Last year, top House Democratic leaders insisted that the issue wasn't important enough to pass in the session's waning days because Iowans weren't begging for it. So much for the party of the little guy.

And actually, the begging was coming from local governments that enjoy our current wink-wink, nudge-nudge enforcement system, which allows them to fudge the law while the Attorney General's Office focuses on flashier, press-conference-ready prey.

I know local officials are likely appalled anyone would question their commitment to openness.

They're so committed that they send thousands of dollars of our money each year to the Iowa League of Cities, the Iowa State Association of Counties and the good old IASB to lobby against tougher openness laws.

So what should we believe, the sunny rhetoric or the money? Tough choice.

The good news is all is not yet lost. The House has time in the closing hours of the session to pass the bill, if leaders decided it's important enough to debate. All that outrage can be channeled into something solid.

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