An article in yesterday’s Chicago Tribune addressed the difficulties even elected board members face in trying to obtain information from local government. Among the several cases cited were those of D99 board member Deborah Boyle, DuPage Water Commissioner Liz Chaplin of Downers Grove, and D58 board member Scott O’Connell.
The reporter, Noreen S. Ahmed-Ullah, had previously covered the D99 board’s attempt to draft new nepotism guidelines that would block Boyle’s participation in closed-session deliberations concerning the teachers’ contract and benefits. Boyle’s brother is a D99 teacher and coach.
Yesterday’s story highlighted Chaplin’s repeated requests for receipts detailing $4,600 in office supplies purchased by the water commission in March and April 2008 and O’Connell’s ongoing attempt to get information about insurance benefit costs for district administrators, among other examples of officials who have been frustrated in their efforts to question the status quo.
Tactics outlined in the story — requiring officials to file FOIA requests, censuring unruly members and erecting other obstacles to limit access to public records — may be less effective once a revised Freedom of Information law kicks in on Jan. 1 allowing the Illinois Attorney General to impose fines on public boards and commissions that “willingly and intentionally” deny access to such documents. The law also will reduce the allowed time frame for responding to FOIA requests from seven to five days.
If the examples outlined by Ahmed-Ullah are any indication, the FOIA act overhaul shouldbe welcomed with open arms by advocates of government transparency and access.
What comes through over and over again in the story is the enthrenched belief, on the part of elected officials no less, that probing the activities of government and requesting access to public information is somehow wrong, bad or destructive to the fabric of the community.
Several of the quotes had a very familiar ring, for example:
“They’re trying to tell me what I can say and obstructing me from getting the documents I need to perform my duties as an elected official.”
“She’s been asking for more and more documents and become distrusting of the administration. It starts to look like you’re micromanaging the place and looking to say ‘gotcha’.”
“As a board member, she’s entitled to receive information; that was not the problem. She was not following protocol in meetings and requesting information. She was going in on her own to the (district) office and disrupting their work.”
And another quote, from the executive director of the Citizen Advocacy Center in Elmhurst, which accurately summed up the local response to elected officials who don’t embrace the majority viewpoint:
“Inevitably, someone who is a concerned citizen ends up throwing their hat in the ring to run for public office to effect change. But in the last five years, we’ve been seeing a growing trend of public bodies taking action to squash out board members who are a political minority and make them as ineffective as possible. They may be on the board, but now they’re getting shut down.”
Perhaps it should come as no surprise that many of the clashes described in the Trib article concern school board members. Long-time observers of the various local boards and commissions understand that school boards seem to operate under a different cultural standard — one heavily influenced by the tenets of the Illinois Association of School Boards, an interest group lacking statutory authority.
While respectful behavior, a willingness to compromise and a constructive attitude are key traits for board members of every stripe, serving the public — its interests and concerns — is their first and foremost responsibility.
Commenting about the new FOIA law, which was drafted by her office, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan said it would bring the quest for government transparency “out of the Stone Age.”
Given the amount of attention transparency has received locally in the past three years, it should be well past time for recalcitrant members of local boards to go along on that ride.
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