WCOG Announces 2012 Legislative Priorities

At its December meeting, the Board of Directors of Washington Coalition for Open Government established the Coalition’s priorities for legislative action during the 2012 legislative session, which starts on Monday, January 9. These priorities include:

• Require Training for Every Elected or Appointed Official and Every Government Employee
• Create a Voluntary Mediation Program to Reduce the Cost of Resolving Public Records Act (PRA) and Open Public Meetings Act (OPMA) Disputes
• Create an Exemption in the Public Records Act for Audio and Video Recordings of Lawfully Closed Meetings
• Restore the Original Intent of the Attorney-Client Communications Exemption
• Create a Private Right of Action Under the Public Records Act for Improper Destruction of Records
• Protect Funding for Superior and Appellate Courts
• Protect Funding for the Washington State Archives
• Preserve the Sunshine Committee
• Expand Access to Legislative and Court Administrative Records
• Improve Preservation of and Access to Electronic Records

The full text of the recommendations is available on the Coalition web site at:
http://www.washingtoncog.org/pdfs/WCOG_Legislative_Priorities_2012.pdf

These priorities will be delivered by email to all members of the state legislature, Governor Gregoire, the Attorney General, the Secretary of State, and the State Auditor. Sponsors are being sought for those bills that have not already been introduced. The Coalition will work with committee chairs to schedule hearings on the bills, provide testimony, and work to improve legislation and build support throughout the legislative process.

Coalition members will be informed of the progress of bills implementing these legislative priorities, and of all other legislation impacting on open government, in periodic legislative update emails throughout the session.

The Coalition encourages its members and concerned citizens throughout Washington to contact members of the Legislature and urge their support for these measures.

Walter Neary joins WCOG Board of Directors

Former Lakewood City Councilmember Walter Neary was recently named to the WCOG Board of Directors.

Neary served on the Lakewood City Council from 2004 through 2011, and currently works as communications director for Comcast, managing sponsorships, traditional media and social media relations, including their 7-day-a-week @ComcastWA Twitter account, and other community communications initiatives.

A graduate of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in New York, Neary was a newspaper reporter and editor for 15 years. He was night city editor for The Salinas Californian, editor of the weekly Lakewood Journal, and business and technology editor at The Olympian. He received a number of awards from the California and Washington Newspaper Publishers Associations and other organizations for investigative reporting and editorial writing. Neary frequently used the Freedom of Information Act as a reporter, and was shocked with the noncompliance of many government entities.

“I've spent a lot of time with people who 'don't get' open government and have some understanding of how they think,” Neary said. “Lawmakers at the local, state and federal levels are usually not elected on the basis of whether they care about open government, and as a result, many don't give much thought to the subject. They need education.”

In 2004, Neary became the first local elected officials to start a blog, and has presented twice at Association of Washington Cities annual conferences about the value of using new digital tools to communicate with constituents, bureaucrats, and policymakers.

“Walter Neary brings a wide range of experience and insight to the WCOG board,” WCOG Vice President Mike Fancher said. “He has been a journalist and public official, and he has worked in the public and private sectors. He understands the importance of open government from many varied perspectives.”

“It's clear that constant vigilance is needed just to maintain open government, much less to win greater transparency,” Neary said. “WCOG has a wonderful track record of educating people about, and advocating for, greater transparency. It's an honor to be associated with an organization whose members are so passionate about representative democracy.”

Neary also serves on the boards of the Lakewood Historical Society, Auburn Youth Resources and Fort Steilacoom Museum, and is co-author of the book Images of America: Lakewood.

WCOG Presents Open Government Sunshine Week Conference in March 2012

WCOG will present “Open Government: Past, Present and Future” from 9:00AM to 3:00PM on Saturday, March 10, 2012 at the Women’s University Club, 1105 Sixth Avenue in Seattle to observe Sunshine Week and to honor the fortieth anniversary of the passage of Initiative-276, the basis for Washington’s open government laws.

This year’s conference will feature a special two-hour luncheon discussion tracing the history of I-276 by those most involved in its passage and subsequent defense in court: attorney Karen Gates-Hildt, widow of the late Michael Hildt; former U.S. Senator Slade Gorton; President and Chief Administrative Officer of Executive Mediator Services, Bennett Feigenbaum; and Bill Neukom, Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer of the World Justice Project. WCOG Communications Committee co-chair Bill Will of the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association will act as moderator.

Kirkland City Councilmember Toby Nixon, president of WCOG, will open the conference and introduce State Archivist Jerry Handfield, who will deliver the keynote address.

“Open Government Present: Citizens’ Stories,” spotlighting citizen activists and their use of open government laws to uncover misdeeds, will follow as the first general session.  Glen Milner, whose case involves the US Naval Weapons Depot on Indian Island; Gloria Howell, who uncovered corruption in the Skamania County Auditor’s office; Tracy Vedder and Carl Hu, who exposed a bogus charity, will recount their experiences.  WCOG Board member Ed Clark will moderate the hour-long session.

Ram Arumugam, CEO at Cascade Software Corporation; Bill Schrier, Chief Information Officer/Tech Officer of the city of Seattle; Matt Rosenberg, Founder/Executive Director of Public Eye Northwest;  and Greg Lane, President of TVW will discuss “Open Government’s Future: Technology, Innovation and Community” during the next session. The panel will be moderated by WCOG Vice President Mike Fancher, former executive editor of the Seattle Times.

The day’s activities will conclude with the presentation of special James Madison Awards for Gorton, Feigenbaum, Michael Hildt and Bill Neukom for their extraordinary dedication and work on behalf of the cause of open, accessible and accountable government in Washington.
           
Continuing Legal Education credits will be available. Registration, which includes lunch, are $50.00 for WCOG members, students, and seniors; $75.00 for non-members and those seeking CLE credits; $50.00 for those wishing to attend the luncheon only; $80.00 for late registrations (March 3 to 10).  There will be a $10.00 cancellation fee within 10 days of the event.

To register, sponsor the conference, or for more information, please visit the WCOG events page at
http://www.washingtoncog.org/events.php

Join WCOG at the 2012 Public Records and Open Public Meetings Laws Forums

The WCOG Events Committee has begun planning the 2012 series of free community forums designed to inform citizens of their rights under Washington’s open government laws and to remind public officials of their obligation to observe these laws.

The committee has selected the cities of Redmond, Vancouver, Kent, Puyallup, and Tacoma as sites for the forums, with an additional venue in Skagit County to be decided.  The series, which will present one forum per month in each location, will begin in April and run until October, except for August. As WCOG has done since presenting similar events in 2002, the forums will feature presentations by a panel of experts and a question and answer period with audience participation.  The committee will solicit partnerships from local organizations interested in good government and local media, and will seek out well-known regional public figures to act as forum moderators.

Individual WCOG members in the areas selected for community forums are encouraged to help with these events by volunteering in several ways: by spreading the word to friends and neighbors, staffing hand-out and sign-in tables, setting up and tearing down, and by attending. 

Contact Elly Snow, WCOG executive director, at info@washingtoncog.org if you are willing to lend a hand with these important civic education events.

Forum sponsorships are available! Click here for more information on how you or your company can contribute to these programs and show your support for open government.

Watch the WCOG website at www.washingtoncog.org for more details coming soon!

A New Year and Fresh Fundraising Strategies: We Want Your Input!

With the economy still struggling, the Coalition’s budget is struggling as well. However, there are three opportunities the Coalition’s Revenue Committee has turned up that would bring in extra funds. The board voted at its December meeting not to pursue these without first asking for input from WCOG members.

Please take a moment to review the three options below and contact the Revenue Committee with your feedback and/or any questions you might have by emailing the WCOG office at info@washingtoncog.org.

Here is a brief description of the three opportunities:

• The simplest and most straightforward partnership is an affinity program with Amazon.com. An Amazon banner or widget would be added to the Washingtoncog.org website, and every time someone uses that portal to purchase an item from an Amazon-affiliated retailer, the Coalition would get a small commission, usually from 5 percent to 15 percent, depending on the vendor.

• Bellevue-based Deals4Dreams.com would offer Groupon-type deals to WCOG members. According to its website, Deals4Dreams would create a WCOG page with deals, and every time a supporter buys a voucher, the site first pays the merchant, usually 50% of the voucher value. The remaining money is reduced by credit card processing costs, e-commerce platform provider costs and customer returns, with the remaining balance shared equally between Deals4Dreams and the non-profit organization, the site said. Deals4Dreams said it pays its operating costs, from its share.
  
  The Deals4Dreams site currently has 26 nonprofits participating. In late December, available deals included $50 for $100 of car detailing services at Derek’s Auto Detailing, $19 for two tickets and popcorn to Seattle Cinerama movie theater, and half-off at La Brisas Mexican restaurant in Edmonds.

• WCOG is also evaluating a potential partnership with Melaleuca, The Wellness Company, an Idaho Falls-based firm that has been selling organic health and beauty products and green cleaning supplies by way of multi-level marketing since 1985.
  

According to Revenue Committee Chair Ed Clark’s report to the WCOG board, none of the opportunities would require any cash investment on the Coalition’s part. The main “investment” would be changes to the WCOG website to add links to partnering websites, as well as outreach to members, describing the opportunities.

“The income is passive in that once [it is] set up, there is no other WCOG investment,” Clark said in his report. The Coalition would not “have to depend on writing a grant or providing accounting to the grant maker,” and the opportunities would provide “reasonably stable revenue that can be budgeted.”

Open government needs your help!

Thousands of citizens rely on our email service and newsletters, community forums, legal seminars, and candidate questionnaires each year to find out about their rights to see public records or to attend a meeting, and to ensure that the positions of candidates for public office on open government issues are made public.

Below are just a few of the coalition’s accomplishments in recent months. 

• WCOG produced six free community forums on open government laws to educate elected officials and provide training and empowerment to hundreds of citizens across the state;
• We were  sought out to protect the public’s right to know in very important disclosure and open government cases in our state: WCOG has recently participated in key court cases including Doe v. Reed and WCOG v. AGO & DOC;
• WCOG representatives discussed specific tools and techniques used to promote and protect open governance laws with professional delegates from 25 countries around the world;
• The Coalition consistently provided elected officials and citizen watchdog members with practical answers to their open government questions from some of the preeminent open government attorneys and advocates in the state;
• We initiated the process of setting up a statewide network of local open-government advocates.

We must increase membership to fund our efforts. Please consider increasing your membership for 2012 or making a donation to WCOG by visiting www.washingtoncog.org and clicking on “Donate to WCOG.”

Benefits of becoming a WCOG member

Washington State was once the national leader in open government with our model Public Disclosure Act and Open Public Meetings Act guaranteeing public access to government records, meetings and the origins of campaign contributions. Those rights - your rights - have eroded. The Public Disclosure Act (now known as the Public Records Act) has had over 300 exemptions piled onto it, allowing agencies and officials to hide decisions and records that used to require public disclosure. The Washington Coalition for Open Government (WCOG) is working to restore Washington State to its leadership role in open government and ensure, through legislative and legal efforts, that Washington government remains accountable to the citizens it serves.
 
By joining WCOG, you not only obtain access to our members only email service, but you will also be helping to fund our legislative efforts, forums that train citizen activists and educate elected officials about their open government responsibilities, and interventions in critical court cases. 

Please join today by going to www.washingtoncog.org and clicking on "Join WCOG." We are truly a broad public interest organization. Our officers come from many political parties, from news media to elected officials to taxpayer and environmental groups. Democracy and accountability in government needs openness, and openness needs your support - please join WCOG today.

The Washington Coalition for Open Government (WCOG) is an independent non-partisan non-profit organization founded in 2002 by a group of individuals representing organizations with a broad spectrum of opinions and backgrounds, all dedicated to the principles of strengthening the state’s open government laws and protecting the public’s access to government at all levels.

For more information, contact Washington Coalition for Open Government, 6351 Seaview Avenue NW, Seattle, WA 98107-2664 or on the web at www.washingtoncog.org or call (206) 782-0393.

Elly Snow, Executive Director
Washington Coalition for Open Government
info@washingtoncog.org
206.782.0393