Copyright 2005, San Jose Mercury News

Schwarzenegger puts his muscle where his mouth is
HE'S PROVING HIMSELF BY TIPPING SCALES IN FAVOR OF DISCLOSURE

(San Jose Mercury News, May 6) -- The ``balancing act'' is a big favorite of some government officials who think they know better than the public what the public should know.

This section of the Public Records Act says a record can be withheld from disclosure if ``the public interest served by not making the record public clearly outweighs the public interest served by disclosure of the record.''

Now Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has put his thumb on the scale -- on the side of disclosure.

In a recent letter to state departments, Schwarzenegger's legal secretary told them to get permission from the governor's office before invoking the balancing act to keep information private.

When running for governor, Schwarzenegger held a campaign rally specifically to promise to make government records more open to public inspection.

Although he's hardly torn down all the curtains and opened all the doors, he's proving to be an advocate for letting the sun shine in on the public's business.

The California Newspaper Publishers Association and the California First Amendment Coalition had asked the governor to weigh in on the side of public access. The clear implication of the governor's message was that anyone proposing to withhold records better have a pretty good reason.

That was the same message voters sent in November to the state's elected officials when 84 percent voted in favor of Proposition 59. It puts in the constitution a requirement that records be public and meetings be open.

Even so, there are some legislators who always want to nibble away at public access, often on the grounds that it's too much trouble.

The Assembly Local Government Committee, chaired by Simon Salinas, D-Salinas, has approved a bill, AB 1314, that lets committees of neighborhood councils -- a form of local government in Los Angeles -- avoid posting the date, time, location and agendas of upcoming meetings.

Sure they're small. But they also are part of the public decision-making process. People ought to know when and where they're meeting.

Schwarzenegger understands this issue. He frequently says he wants to be the people's governor. On public records, he's listening to what the people want.