What we need is action, not the ability to sue...

Gladiators. (Internet photo.)

In "D.C. government gets an earful for lack of openness," the Examiner reports on a DC Council hearing considering expanding requirements for openness for DC Government. From the article:

Many speakers complained that routine requests for information were often ignored or improperly denied by city departments. Those kind of complaints are nothing new and aren't unique to the District.

But the District's problems, Cheh and other speakers said, have only gotten worse under the administration of Mayor Adrian Fenty, who rose to power on a platform of accountability.

The average number of Freedom of Information Act requests wholly denied by the city has quadrupled under Fenty, while the average number of requests has stayed constant to previous administrations, according to figures from Cheh's office.

The article concludes with this:

Cheh's proposed bill would create an Open Government Office, which would advise agencies on public records laws and have the power to sue an agency that failed to comply with the law. She said the office would work as a "gladiator" for the public.

So you create a government office that has the power to sue another government agency?

Wow. Some solution.

Gladiators weren't content to sit in a courtroom arguing desultorially about what to do. Gladiators do things!

Instead, give the "Open Government Office" the authority to go in to the agency and fill the request, and seize funds from the uncompliant agency to pay for their cost of doing so.

Adding another lawsuit to the courts is hardly a step forward in protecting citizen rights and access to government. It does guarantee full employment for government lawyers though.

Attorney Michael S. Washor, making spirited opening remarks at the beginning of a trial. New York Times photo.