[via Open the Government!] Senators John Cornyn (R-TX) and Patrick Leahy (D-VT) have introduced the Openness Promotes Effectiveness in our National (OPEN) Government Act (S. 394), to strengthen the public's hand in obtaining information from federal agencies under the Freedom of Information Act.
The law would allow the public to recoup legal costs from the federal government for improperly withheld documents, expand the list of those eligible for fee waivers, and establish a tracking system for requests, among other things.
Blocking access to government information leaves the public vulnerable. People cannot determine whether or not the local drinking water is safe, for example, or if hazardous waste is shipped through town. The public needs information to protect communities and families, and to hold the government accountable for its responsibilities.
Government secrecy is on the rise in the Imperial Executive Administration of George W. Bush, putting the public's right to know at risk, further weakening the accountability of authorities to the citizens they serve, and contributing to the same ongoing disintegration of the informed electorate culture on which participatory democracy depends as do the crises in corporate media consolidation and paid progagandizing, the ongoing assault on public education, and other disasters that are getting more attention at the moment than the pernicious consolidation of the Bush era culture of state secrecy, crony capitalism, and accountability last.
Support the (OPEN) Government Act by contacting your representatives and urging them to support this critical piece of legislation as well. You can send a letter through this automagic netroots mobilization tool.
Open government needs your support!
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