"Governments generally like to operate in darkness. Taxpaying citizens want sunshine and transparency."
- Joe Saino
Former commissioner for Memphis Light, Gas and Water Division who now runs a public watchdog Web site, www.memphiswatchdog.org

Memphians could learn a lot about the way government works from an ordinary Joe.

He's Joe Saino, a former Memphis Light, Gas and Water Division commissioner-turned-tenacious public watchdog who won't take no for an answer. Like last year, for example, when he was stonewalled by municipal officials after requesting public records from the City of Memphis. A string of letters he wrote went unanswered, so he filed suit in Shelby County Chancery Court.

The city relented, and since then Saino has spent several hundred dollars - usually at 25 cents a copy - combing through other public records on just about every government agency in Memphis and Shelby County. Many of the facts he digs up are posted on his Web site, www.memphiswatchdog.org, which reportedly has been banned from being viewed on computers inside MLGW.

One-man band

Saino said he believes he's doing the research the media doesn't always have the time or resources to do. Next week, newspapers and other groups across the country are sponsoring Sunshine Week to make government more accessible to ordinary people like him.

"Governments generally like to operate in darkness," Saino said. "Taxpaying citizens want sunshine and transparency."

Sunshine Week, which was first held last year on a national scale, is spearheaded by the American Society of Newspaper Editors. The event is a spin-off of Sunshine Sunday, which was started in Florida in 2002. That effort was begun to stop more than 150 proposed exemptions to Florida's open records laws in the wake of Sept. 11 and the creation of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

"And that's sort of the model for Sunshine Sunday and Sunshine Week events," said Frank Gibson, editor of the Tennessean in Nashville and executive director of the Tennessee Coalition for Open Government. During the week, newspapers and media outlets will be presenting stories and editorials that highlight the issue.

Transparency in government

This year's Sunshine Week, which starts Sunday, actually will be different in Tennessee than in other states. Rather than inventing an elaborate promotional campaign for the week, local media and advocacy groups say they already have a genuine project on their hands.

The rules governing open meetings in Tennessee are about to get a facelift for the first time since they were written more than 30 years ago.

"It's pending in the legislature now, so that's our Sunshine Week," Gibson said.

One of the changes to Tennessee's "Sunshine in Government" legislation would require the state's General Assembly to follow the same public meeting rules that cities and counties do. But state Atty. Gen. Paul Summers has issued a legal opinion that has concerned open meeting advocates.

Constitutionally, Summers believes the current General Assembly might not be able to write legislation that binds future lawmakers. That's one reason why advocates like Gibson believe the halls of state government are getting darker.

Another is a recent tally by the Jackson Sun newspaper in Jackson, Tenn., which found there were 45 open meetings violations in Tennessee during the first 10 months of 2005. In the entirety of 2004, there were 39 reported; in 2003, there were 31. One of the violations reported in 2005 concerned a Nashville government agency using e-mail to discuss a budget plan.

Let the sun shine in

Last year, the paper took the City of Jackson to court to obtain a 9-1-1 tape after a shooting at the local Tennessee Department of Transportation office.

Saino has several open records requests pending. One involves obtaining more information that appears to show MLGW - which has a special property tax arrangement with the City of Memphis - has overpaid some of that amount in recent years by almost $25 million.

"I think, somehow or another, we haven't done a really good job educating the public about this," said Dr. Elinor Grusin, a journalism professor at the University of Memphis who teaches mass communications law.

NO CLOSED DOORS: Frank Gibson, who spoke this week at the University of Memphis' Law School for Journalists, is on the front lines of a campaign to wage war on secrecy in government. He's the executive director of the Tennessee Coalition for Open Government, which was organized in 2003. -- Photograph By Andrew Ashby

She once examined the access to law enforcement records in Tennessee and found that more than one police office kept two sets of records: one for the public and one for themselves.

More sunshine appears to be needed at other levels of government than state agencies. Though the federal Freedom of Information Act is approaching its 40th birthday, a coalition of watchdog groups has found the national government is withholding more public information than ever before.

For every dollar federal agencies spent declassifying old secrets in 2004, $148 was spent to create and store secrets, according to an Associated Press report.

A recent AP investigation also found that almost all records remain secret for more than 5,000 defendants who moved through the federal courts in the last three years.

"This is not a journalism issue - it's a public issue," said Grusin, who's making open government issues the focus of one of her coming classes.

After scouring thousands of public records, Saino has a few ideas on how to make the process less exasperating for ordinary citizens.

They should have the option of getting public records in an electronic form, instead of computer documents being printed and offered to the public for the cost of each printout, he said. E-mail records should be more readily available, and penalties for refusal to comply should be stiffer.

"It's Sunshine Week every week in Tennessee," Gibson said.