Keep government open Supreme Court decides

A ruling from the Supreme Court on the keeping the names on a petition open to the public is one that the Responsible Community supported.

The United States Supreme Court supported the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco and will allow the names of petition signers to be released to the public. “Protect Marriage Washington”, which organized a petition drive for a public vote to repeal the state’s “everything-but-marriage” gay rights law, asked the state of Washington to protect the privacy of signers of the petition. Petitions signers were concerned that they would be the target of a backlash from those that oppose the petition.

Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the opinion for 8 of the justices. Judge Roberts found, and the Responsible Community agrees, that it is “vitally important that states be able to ensure that signatures on referendum petitions” are authentic.

Excerpts from the Responsible Community post on May 3, 2010:

“The names should not be kept secret because people must be able to trust a citizen’s initiative. They are started by people that would like to ask the voters of a state if they think something should be changed. If enough people think the same way, the issue gets on the ballot. The people that sign the petition must be real and registered voters along with various other requirements depending on the state. If those names on the petition can’t be challenged how does anyone know they are real people?

“A similar issue to this came up in the last national election. An organization was registering people to vote. It was found, by people making challenges to the names on the list, that some were not eligible. Now the organization that did that, as well as other things, no longer exists. ACORN has closed its doors, partly because of the challenge.

“Responsible communities must operate in the open so that everyone can trust the process. Keeping names on a petition drive private only builds mistrust.”

The supreme court made the correct ruling with an 8-1 decision. This demonstrates a strong and very clear view on this issue. Open government is alive and very healthy in the United States.

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Terri Lynn Opinion Prevents Transparency

Last week, Michigan Secretary of State Terri Lynn issued a tentative consent allowing political advertising to conceal the supporting donors. This just a few months after the Supreme Court ruled that corporations and other big money interest can spend as much money as they deem necessary on political advertising.

Come election time it is important to know where everyone stands on the issues so that the voter can make an informed decision. Lynn’s decision will prevent transparency in the voting process.

Knowing where public officials stand on the issues is important. But, that extends beyond government and politics. It also extends to every individual and group in the community that takes a public stand. Sometimes the motivation for advocating for or against an issue is not just the belief that it will help the community, it could also be a monetary or personal benefit.

With the recent Supreme Court decision that allows corporations and other groups to spend as much as they want to support political issues, the political arena has changed. Justice Antonin Scalia, who stood with the majority in that decision, supports transparency with an opinion in another case by saying, "You can't run a democracy this way, with everybody being afraid of having his political positions known." Much more money will now be spent on issues and candidates than ever before. With the secretary of state ruling that donors in support of issues can be kept secret, it will violate the concept of transparency in politics. The voter needs to know all the facts about an issue including who supports it.

The Secretary of State Terri Lynn was wrong to issue a tentative opinion supporting the privacy requests of the Chamber of Commerce. In the final decision, she needs to reverse that opinion. If not, the legislature of the state needs to take immediate action to keep our elections transparent.