Records: The More Public, the Better

The concept of public records is one of the underpinnings of a democracy.

So what happens when they really become public?

States and cities across the country are raising this question by posting

potentially controversial information online, where it is accessible with

the click of a mouse.

It's almost like asking for trouble.

Government agencies are compelled to make state budgets, meeting minutes

and similar documents available to anyone who asks. It's usually not an

issue, though, because most people are not interested enough to make the

trip to city hall or the statehouse and read through the documents.

The World Wide Web changes these dynamics dramatically. Consider the

Connecticut comptroller's new Web site, a searchable database of information

on state bonds, dating back five years, detailing how the money is being

spent.

Without the Web site, an individual or organization would have to comb

through five years of agendas and minutes from bond commission meetings.

A person had to have a strong vested interest to undertake that time-consuming

task.

Now that same information is accessible to even the casual Web surfer.

People who never before would have bothered to look up the state's bond

records can now deluge the comptroller with questions and complaints.

But Connecticut comptroller Nancy Wyman said she is more concerned that

before now, people had not had easy access to this information. Most projects

being funded are good projects, she said, and people should know that. And

if they do not like something they see, they should raise the issue with

their lawmakers.

Wyman is right on the money.

Granted, putting public records online has the potential to generate

feedback that agencies aren't used to dealing with and may not find useful.

It will take time to adapt age-old political practices to the new venue,

for government and citizens. And agencies must address concerns about inequitable

access to the Internet in the communities they serve.

But the Internet, by dramatically improving access to information, has

the potential to create a better-informed electorate. It's easy to miss

that development when so much attention is being given to e-commerce and

other commercial ventures.

And the interactive nature of a "digital democracy," based on tools

as simple as e-mail and online surveys, could help agencies produce policies

and programs more closely aligned with the interests and the needs of the

communities they serve.

It could really put the "public" in public policy.

John Stein Monroe

Editor

civic.com