Exceptions to openness proposed for security

Associated Press/Portland State University, Julie Schablitsky

University of Nevada, Reno archaeology students worked at a site on the outskirts of Virginia City, Nev. The dig marks the first time DNA residue has been extracted from historic artifacts other than human remains, in this case, a 125-year-old glass hypodermic syringe. The students are unidentified.By Scott Charton ~ The Associated Press

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- For years legislators, citizens and newspapers have beaten back proposals to weaken Missouri's Sunshine Law, which requires public business to be done in public.

But in the six months since the Sept. 11 attacks, Missouri lawmakers have been seriously considering adding exceptions to the law, in the name of heading off terrorist acts.

"We have been an open society, so it makes me mad that we can't always be that way now. But this is a matter of security for society, and we have to be on our toes," said state Rep. Randall Relford, D-Cameron, sponsor of one bill that would close records about security at certain public utilities.

'The perfect excuse'

Doug Crews, executive director of the Missouri Press Association, countered in an interview that "Sept. 11 has provided the perfect excuse for going into the Sunshine Law and protecting certain records from disclosure, even when there is clearly a public right to know." The Sunshine Law declares: "It is the public policy of this state that meetings, records, votes, actions, and deliberations of public governmental bodies be open to the public unless otherwise provided by law."

But Tim Daniel, Missouri's new director of homeland security, recently spoke in favor of what he viewed as narrow proposed exceptions to openness -- legislation to exempt from disclosure security plans for public buildings, meetings of public governmental bodies specifically to discuss such plans, blueprints of buildings and the costs of security steps.

Various versions of the bill are pending in the Legislature. Daniel noted that members of the al-Qaida terrorist network -- which Washington blames for the Sept. 11 attacks -- were told to scour public libraries for information about bridges, water systems and public buildings "so they could damage the sites."

"I believe the terrorists will use the information that is available to them against us," Daniel said.

Crews, whose association represents the state's daily and weekly newspapers, saidgovernment-owned utilities have for years tried to win legislative exemption from open records, citing competitive business pressures. "Now these appeals are being framed by terrorism and reasons of security are given for wanting to close them. We want to make sure taxpayers can still find out essential information, such as the costs of security projects when public money is involved," Crews said.

'Can we trust you?'

During a Jan. 16 hearing on legislative efforts to close records, Rep. Jason Crowell, R-Cape Girardeau, asked Gary Markenson, lobbyist for the Missouri Municipal League, whether Sunshine Law exceptions for protecting details of security plans might become "a catchall to hide a lot of records."

"Can we trust you enough?" Crowell asked.

"I hope you could trust your elected officials more than terrorists," Markenson replied.