Monday, February 08, 2010, 12:30 PM
News, Opinion, Politics
By Stephanie Ramage
COMMITTEE TO FIND ATLANTA'S NEXT POLICE CHIEF TO BE ANNOUNCED AT 2 P.M.
On Friday, Feb. 5, the Sunday Paper learned that the committee to find Atlanta’s next police chief had not only been appointed without the public being told, it had actually secretly met. On Feb. 2, the Sunday Paper had submitted a request under the Georgia Open Records Act for the names of the committee members and any all documents related to the committee, after being approached by citizens regarding the lack of transparency surrounding the committee. http://www.sundaypaper.com/Blogs/TheRamageReport/tabid/235/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/4997/Default.aspx
This morning, Feb. 8, Mayor Kasim Reed’s office announced that the committee members will be publically identified this afternoon at 2 p.m. at City Hall.
That’s great news for those of us who support transparency in government.
The City law department informed the Sunday Paper today that the person in charge of any and all documents related to the committee is Lisa Borders, co-chair of the City’s transition team. Borders indicated that she had not received the open records request until Thursday, Feb. 4, which means her response is due tomorrow, the third business day after her receipt of the request.
What this all boils down to is the committee was named and met without its members being disclosed to the public until today. There may be those who will quibble about the point at which Georgia’s Sunshine Laws require compliance, but doing so after the committee has met is certainly in conflict with the spirit of the law.
To make matters even worse, Borders denied the committee existed, when in fact it did and City Hall continued to issue denials even after the committee had met.
According to the City law department, the Sunday Paper shouldn’t expect to get many documents, since the committee and its meeting were pulled together and planned almost exclusively via phone calls—Borders’ communications were almost entirely verbal.
But, the confidentiality agreement she required committee members to sign is an actual document, one that understandably protects the identity of applicants for the city’s top job. That’s one we want.
Borders verbally told the members of the committee that she is the only person authorized to speak to the press on behalf of the committee, a sure fire way to allow Borders to manipulate the public’s perception of what and how the committee is doing. That’s what’s important to us and to the citizens of Atlanta, because her directive, given in conjunction with the confidentiality agreement, has led some committee members to believe that speaking to the press will get them kicked off the committee.
That’s not the case, unless of course the confidentiality agreement indicates that to be the case, and if it does, the agreement may have over-reached its legal bounds.
There is a difference between confidentiality used to protect private individuals and confidentiality used to discourage private citizens from speaking out. The first kind is protected by our Constitution. The second kind is prohibited by it.
Let’s take today’s announcement of the committee members as a hopeful sign that the Reed administration will encourage the first and ban the second.