Subject: Sunshine Week

March 9 , 2007

To the Editor:

March 11-17 is Sunshine Week, a national initiative calling for transparency in meetings of governmental bodies and access to public records.

Fortunately in California we have the Brown Act, the law that requires public access to meetings and requires elected officials to let the public speak. The Act says, “The people, in delegating authority, do not give their public servants the right to decide what is good for the people to know and what is not good for them to know”.

Californians also have the Public Records Act, which declares that "access to information concerning the conduct of the people's business is a fundamental and necessary right of every person in this state.”

Locally the Public Records Act and the Brown Act have been used to oppose illegal actions by county and city officials. Our elected officials must take the spirit of these laws as their mandate. Government business should be conducted in full sunshine and disclosure.

As President of the League of Women Voters of the Monterey Peninsula, I speak for the League in urging cities and the county to adopt the recommendations of the 2005 Grand Jury and make it possible for the public to agendize items before their elected representatives on local governing bodies.

Marilyn Maxner, President
LWV of the Monterey Peninsula