Local Columnist Highlights Secrecy of Bush Administration
Posted by Jeff Pruitt - 3/23/08 @ 10:25 am - Filed Under Local Politics
Sylvia Smith has a column in today’s JG that is a follow up to the story she wrote earlier in the week regarding the VA hospital report that was redacted by the Bush Administration. In this column she highlights the difference between the openness of the Clinton administration and the secrecy of the Bush administration. She also discusses open government and why citizens should not tolerate this from their leaders - a must read.
From Smith’s column:
Just how informative is a report without its findings and conclusions?
This is not top-secret stuff. No one’s life is in danger if we know that the consultants think the Fort Wayne hospital is crumbling or is in tip-top shape.
During the Clinton era, I would have received the full report. In the Bush years, we have to guess what $530,000 worth of recommendations propose for a hospital that treats 44,000 northeast Indiana veterans.
Two years after the assume-it’s-open standard was reversed by the Bush administration, FOIA officers were asked whether they were more or less likely to release information under Ashcroft’s approach. Nearly a third said they were more likely to censor documents before giving them to the public.
This statement is microcosm of the Bush administration - secrecy for the sake of secrecy or should I say power. They redact this stuff just because they can.
citizens can’t hold their government accountable unless they know what’s going on. And you won’t know what’s going on if the federal government tries to hide its actions behind a “if we feel like it” anti-disclosure policy.
This is not about whether the VA or the Education Department or the Pentagon resists reporters’ efforts to get information. This is about you. This is about an open government – the kind of government you deserve, that we all pay for and that our military fights to defend.
There’s a reason citizens fight for open government and it’s not typically done to push a partisan political agenda. It’s because the natural tendency of any bureaucracy is secrecy. And when the bureaucracy is as powerful as government it cannot be left unchecked or the chances for abuse and/or waste rise exponentially. If there’s one thing we try to do here at FWP it’s to push for open government initiatives regardless of political ideology. As Sylvia Smith states - it’s our money and we deserve it…
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