Open records needed to secure government ethics
Open records are a valuable part of our democracy. Through them the public can keep track of many aspects of our government and hold officials more accountable for their actions.
The occasional concern over government sunshine, though, is that virtually everything is open, and thus some well-intentioned citizens may be thrust into the public spotlight with no good reason or cause. Just as free speech doesn’t give one the right to shout “Fire!” in a crowded theater, so too must there be carefully defined limits to what is a public record.
With this in mind, Gov. Phil Bredesen has said he will try to amend Tennessee open records laws to protect the identity of state employees who file sexual harassment complaints. This may be considered by some a little self-serving. He is responding to the controversy over an official’s decision to shred notes taken during a sexual harassment investigation that led to the demotion of the governor’s senior policy adviser, Robert “Mack” Cooper.
While Bredesen says he wants employees to feel safe in reporting harassment, he also wants the state to be able to close records of sexual harassment investigations the same way private companies do.
Protecting the privacy of the victim and his or her accuser may help promote the healing process and allow employees to continue to work without the eyes and whispers of co-workers affecting the workplace.
If such a proposal is passed, it should not be interpreted as giving state officials a license to hide every suggestion or accusation of wrongdoing from the public. Keeping some limited numbers of these records, in very specific instances, out of the public domain may encourage more people who have been wronged to come forward and not feel shamed or threatened for doing it.
Information from: The Mountain Press, www.themountainpress.com