For as long as I can remember politicians in Albany have been talking about the need for more sunshine as they conduct the people's business. But that seems to be a difficult if not impossible goal.
“Sunshine” is Albany jargon for openness in government. It means the people won't be kept in the dark about what's going on. And, this year, there seems to be as great an effort to obscure deliberations as ever before. The faces may change but not the feeling that there are some things that are better discussed behind closed doors. The people don't need to know about them.
On a recent day, Gov. David Paterson had a closed-door lunch with legislative leaders at the Executive Mansion. We're told they discussed the $120 billion executive budget but, as the New Times' Jeremy Peters reported: later, they declined to share the details of their conversation.
Through the locked iron gate outside the mansion, the Republican Assembly Leader James Tedisco told waiting reporters: “Basically they're saying, 'We don't need openness or transparency.' “
This seems strange since, when the Republican were in power, there was just as much if not more resistance to open government.
Now we have a Democratic governor and both houses of the legislature are controlled by Democrats, yet clearly they are determined to blot out the sunshine. Although Paterson has talked about wanting more transparency in government, it isn't happening.
Ironically, the State Senate, did offer a resolution calling on the governor to issue an official state proclamation recognizing “Sunshine Week.” But the Senate Democrats decided not to bring the resolution forward so Republican couldn't criticize the governor and the Democratic leaders for excluding them from budget negotiations. The wisdom behind this maneuver seemed to be: when you are not practicing what you're preaching, it's better not to advertise it.
There's been a decided absence of open discussion among the legislators this year. The Democrats say the Republicans are being hypocritical because, in the four decades they controlled the Senate, they weren't great fans of sunshine in government either.
Malcolm Smith, the Democratic Majority Leader of the Senate, shrugged off critics who say the Democrats are blotting out the sunshine. He said nothing had come out of recent discussions that the public would want to know about. When and if there is something interesting, Smith promised, the people will be informed. '
'At this point we want to get to a place where we can have information that's worthwhile for the public,” Smith said.
How's that again? Is this the way democracy is supposed to function?
Back when he was a state senator, Paterson urged: “We have to put an end to the secretive budget process that has dominated the State Legislature” and he quoted Justice Louis Brandeis: “Sunlight is the best disinfectant.”
Alas, pious words are not translated into action in Albany.
