Public deserves independent notice of government actions

By Mark Singletary

All of us that live and work in New Orleans are used to our family, friends, co-workers and professional affiliates coming for visits. It's always a privilege. Well, most of the time it's a privilege.

This week I am honored to have a distinguished group of newspaper editors and publishers in town for a convention. The group is the American Court and Commercial Newspaper Association.

This newspaper group is devoted to protecting the rights and services associated with public notice and disclosure. For disclosure purposes, CityBusiness is an active member of this professional organization and I support its mission.

Public notice is a tradition that dates back to town criers and important postings on the steps of government buildings. The intent was, and still is, to keep the business dealings and machinations of government open to public scrutiny. It is a particularly defining characteristic of democracy.

Our government performs best when its processes are open to public scrutiny. The public has insisted on the ability to watch and we have developed a comprehensive set of guidelines for public access and public disclosure. These guidelines, known as “Sunshine Laws”, differ slightly from region to region, but basically ensure that when city councils, state legislatures or Congress meets for official action, the public is notified of the time, place and agenda for the meetings.

The posting of these meetings' notices is the baseline for all public disclosure in the United States. Subsequently, all action taken by legislative bodies is also required to be held up for public consumption.

Newspapers have provided this access for the past several hundred years. Newspapers that are qualified, through all sorts of statutory requirements, to run these public announcements are said to be legally adjudicated. CityBusiness is a legal newspaper. We regularly print the official judicial notices of Jefferson Parish Sheriff Harry Lee. It is a responsibility that we take very seriously.

Having public notice is a good thing, but it can also be complicated, political and underappreciated. It can, at times, be seen as an expensive, old fashioned form of enlightenment. The process of public notice is changing, as it should, to accommodate some of these sentiments.

There are at least two schools of thought on the objective of notification. The first is obvious, to ensure public awareness. The second objective, to preserve a public record of government, is where public notice will face its biggest tests in the near future.

Since filing public notice means paying for the space in legal newspapers, and most governmental units think they don't have enough money to do their real work, it is quite common for proposals to eliminate third party notification from the public process to appear from time to time. After all, most city councils have a Website and it seems natural for them to just post their notices for all the world to read.

I, too, think it's a good idea to have public notices posted on the World Wide Web. I just don't think it's a good idea for the government, no matter how trustworthy, to be in charge of the process.

When we publish legally required notices, either in our newspaper or on our Website, we have to sign an affidavit that affirms the notice ran when it was supposed to, as it was supposed to, and that it was available for public consumption. The assurance that the notices ran, as required, is independent. That independence assures that the entire process of government is open and accessible.

Members of the media have incredible access to government, but theoretically no more access than your next door neighbor. Newspapers, television and radio news organizations, and now many Web-based groups have flourished because we take that access and provide reliable reports on the process of government and act as “stand-ins” for you and your neighbors.

If we could trust every member of every city council, parish or county council, state legislature, Congress and the President, to inform us every time they act, then independent notification wouldn't be necessary. I hope you see where I'm headed with this argument.

Because, just in case there might be a crooked or conniving mayor or governor or Congressman, we can't take the chance that lets them be in charge of keeping all of us in the know.

As my friends, and I, gather together this week to enjoy the hospitality of New Orleans and its environs, I want you guys to know that we'll also be spending a little time looking after the huge responsibility that we have, to look out for your interests.

If you happen to bump into one of the visitors and they start talking about the incredibly interesting points of public notice, smile nice, tell them to relax and please go try a nice bowl of gumbo.