Often you hear people talk about how government should be run like a business, and it is a nice metaphor for reminding people that cost controls are important, and the books should be balanced, but the phrase masks a very important reality: Government is not a business.
In our talks with people around town about our belief in an open, transparent government, we are sometimes confronted with the idea that government should be run like a business.
Specifically, the City of Batavia should have only one spokes person, and that person is City Manager Jason Molino.
When we spoke to the City Council on this subject a couple of weeks ago, that was exactly the argument Councilman Bill Cox used in dismissing our request for more open access to the local government.
Earlier this week, when we did a post on this topic, John Roach left the following comment:
Jason is right not letting city employees speak with you or the other news media. He is dead right on that. There can be only one spokesman for an organization and all public agencies have that policy. In fact, most private companies have the same policy: one spokesman.
Both Philip Anselmo and I responded about how neither of us, in all of our journalistic experience, have ever dealt with a city government that prohibited employees from talking to the media.
It's just not normal.
But here's where the argument that government is like a business really breaks down:
A government can do things a business can't. A government can impose taxes; a government takes those taxes and decides how to spend those dollars in ways that can have profound impacts on citizens' lives; a government employs people who carry guns and can lock up citizens for reasons both great and small; a government can tell you where and how to hang a sign, what color to paint your house, what repairs must be made to your front porch, what new structures you can erect and where you can do it and what materials can be used; a government is responsible for running facilities -- such as parks -- for the public benefit.
In other words, a government has great power over, awesome responsibility for, and substantial accountability to every person within its jurisdiction.
Businesses, on the other hand, rely on competitive advantages and trade secrets to maintain profitability and ensure it can maintain and grow jobs for the people of a community. Without successful businesses, there would be no taxes to collect. That's why the freedom of information laws always enjoin government agencies to protect trade secrets when exposed during the transaction of business between a company and a government agency.
Can businesses be abusive? Sure, but there are also laws that regulate businesses (and though often changing or unevenly enforced for good or ill, they do exist), anti-trust laws to prevent any one business from becoming too powerful, and the free market to check and diminish a business's power.
So there really is no comparison between a government's obligation be open and transparent and a private (or even publicly held) company's right to keep some secrets.
In a well run government, free of malfeasance and derelictions, there should be no reason for any muzzles on any staff member, from the janitor on up to every department head.
We've also heard the argument -- "well, if you want to know something, just FOIL it."
FOIL stands for Freedom of Information Law (at the Federal level it's known as the Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA). Go read the opening section of FOIL. It's a beautiful thing. It makes our case for us.
The fact is, if a government agency was operating under the principles of FOIL, living within the spirit of the legislation instead insisting on following the letter of the law, there would never, ever be any reason for a private citizen or media representative to EVER file a formal FOIL request.
A truly open government would just hand over documents with a simple verbal request.
Open governments have nothing to hide and no secrets to keep except those specifically and explicitly enjoined to it by state or federal law.
We shouldn't even need legislation such as FOIL to find out what our government is up to, but the Legislature found it necessary to stop abuses by overzealous government administrators.
But there are three primary problems with FOIL.
- A government agency has five days to respond to a FOIL request, and agencies that wish to delay release of information will take full advantage of this provision;
- FOIL requests must be written in such a way as to be very specific about the records reqeuested -- write the request too broad, and a government agency can use the lack of specificity as an excuse not to include some documents; write it too narrowly and you might miss the most important documents;
- FOIL doesn't cover human intelligence -- not everything you might want to find out about how your government is working is contained within a specific document. Some of it is only contained in the minds of the people who know what is going on. There is simply no substitute for talking with a person and asking questions.
With these liabilities, it is improper for a government agency to hide behind FOIL as a means of controlling the flow of information.
We don't think we're asking for much: We're just asking that the City of Batavia be run in an open, transparent manner so that taxpayers are well served. Until that happens, how can we trust that power isn't being abused and tax dollars are being well spent?
Nice language Laz! Putting in
Nice language Laz! Putting in that single asterisk surely is enough to shroud the word intended. I'm a truck driver and even I can choose better words for a written page. Speak however you like to your audience in ear shot, I do. At least try to show a bit of class when typing.
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
Let's keep the profanity out
Let's keep the profanity out of the conversation.
Howard, don’t you think that
Howard, don’t you think that this is a little over the top? The only thing that I can see is Jason protecting the city employee’s privacy. He doesn’t want his staff speaking for the city. He doesn’t want our city staff taken off the job to essentially do the city manager’s job.
Your making a lot of inflammatory statements for a really, small problem, don’t you think? You are on the back of your whale lunging away at this point. Why don’t you take note of the positive and see what you have accomplished so far? Why isn’t the glass half full? Should people fear you and The Batavian? Is that what you’re looking for? I don’t think it is.
Is The Batavian a hard hitting big city news agency or is The Batavian a community bulletin board and an online forum? The Daily and WBTA have grown with this community for decades. Joanne and Dan have built a working relationships with everyone in the community. Isn’t that what a reporter strives to do? Doesn’t more access for a reporter go hand in hand with credibility, experience, trust? Doesn’t The Batavian need to prove itself to some extent? Isn’t that what you should be doing instead of ridding on the back of that whale?
Whatever happened to free
Whatever happened to free speech?
Does anyone (including an appointed manager) have the right to take away that right from another - even if that person works in their particular department or division?
How are the voters going to hold their elected officials accountable if the only feedback on their performance in office is regulated by an appointed (not elected) official. These appointed managers can become a sort of entity onto themselves. They only have to please a small number of people elected to city council or county legislature (one hand washes the other).
Appointing an official spokes person for an organization is perfectly acceptable. To forbid others to speak to the press or anyone else is in my opinion - anti American.
"Doesn't The Batavian need to
"Doesn't The Batavian need to prove itself to some extent?"
No. It doesn't. And that is exactly the point. A city government operates by and for the people. It is not a mafia family that defines its relationship with the individual members of its community according to the benediction of an omnipotent patriarch that must be earned through devotion and genuflection. A reporter is no different than any other member of the community, except that he or she has the capacity and desire to take the time and report the news for the rest of the community.
Dan Fischer and Joanne Beck — who are both very good at what they do — have no more nor no less of a right than any other person in the community to walk into a City Council meeting and find out what's going on or to request a document from the city clerk or to seek whatever information they wish to know about their city government — in fact, in essence, they are the city government. We the people.
No one person or news agency needs to prove anything in order to have that right. Because it is a right. Not a privilege.
"Doesn’t more access for a reporter go hand in hand with credibility, experience, trust?"
No. It doesn't. Not to say that every reporter doesn't strive for credibility, experience and trust. Rather, access is the given. It is not meted out according to the caprice of any one person or group. Access is the immediate. Access precedes all formulations of judgment. The reporting of the news itself will be what accounts for the credibility of an individual or an organization, and it is the public who will determine the credibility of that person or individual; the public will define the trust.
Experience? How can experience define access? Does this, then, mean that a fledgling reporter, fresh out of school, just starting a job with the local hometown paper is permitted less access to government records than the veteran ace? Wouldn't that prevent the inexperienced from ever gaining experience?
Just to be clear, this post
Just to be clear, this post isn't about The Batavian. It's about government access; it is painted in terms of access to one specific government agency, but it's about access -- access not just for The Batavian, but for all of the local media.
I know for a fact there are reporters at the Daily News who share this concern but don't speak up for their own reasons.
They are as baffled as we are as to why none of us can ask a city employee a question and get a straightforward answer.
I feel the City of Batavia
I feel the City of Batavia should have only one spokes person and that is the City Manager, Jason Molino. That is a very important part of his job, to keep the taxpayers informed and to manage the city. We don't need anyone else speaking for the City of Batavia. That is why we have a city manager. Let him manage. He gets his directions from the City Council who the taxpapers elect to represent them. That is the way it works. If we don't agree with what we hear we can let our council representatives know how we feel. This is letting our city government govern.
As far as Howard and Phil having ever dealth with a city government prohibiting the employees from talking to the media it is done all of the time. You just have to look to Buffalo and Rochester. They all have people that are the only ones authorized to speak to the media. Also, their school districts do this. They have spokes people.
The Batavian has the same
The Batavian has the same access as everyone else. You receive the same packets that WBTA and the daily does. You can sit at the press table and ask questions before and after the meetings. I’ll answer any questions you have and contribute to your site frequently. So does Jay Grasso from the county. That’s not bad for a new forum in a small town after just a couple of months. Gaining personal interviews isn’t a right. Watching the national news, reporters treat that type of access as a homerun. Good reporters are able to get their questions answered. They are able to hunt down a story and get what they need. They know who to call and gain private sources and get tips to make their work easier. You’re looking for the quick fix to being the new guys on the block. The fact is you guys rarely come to council meetings. I don’t recall you ever asking anyone a question before or after a meeting either. You have hit a road block with Jason trying to get extra coverage; maybe letting that out in the very public way you have doesn’t help the cause.
I respect both of you guys and like what you’re doing. I’m asking you to not burn your bridges for the good of what you’re trying to accomplish.
Charlie, I need to reiterate
Charlie, I need to reiterate -- today's post wasn't even about just The Batavian.
Yes, we think that Jason is more likely to answer an e-mail or take a phone call from either WBTA or the Daily, but that's a separate issue from what we're raising here.
Many of your points above are well taken. I struggle all the time -- as you may sense from some of our conversations -- with how best to handle this being the new kids on the block. And we've gotten some great information from you and other officials who have joined in on the site -- I wish there were more ... in fact, it would be wonderful if Jason would just speak for himself on The Batavian -- it's an open forum for him, too. He's welcome to post whatever he likes.
We're very grateful for the support we have and especially for the growing number of people who send us news tips.
But again, this isn't just about us.
Philip is a fine reporter, but in a situation where everybody is afraid of their jobs if they even say hello to a media guy, it's kind of hard to develop sources. In a situation where one person has all control of all information but is rarely forthcoming with information, it's hard to get information.
Part of the reason we stopped coming to council meetings is they weren't very fruitful. It's hard to get questions answered there, too.
And besides, why should a reporter have to be constantly at a certain place at a certain time to get a question answered? Why won't a simple phone call or e-mail the next day or the next week suffice?
And not everything a reporter might want to ask is related to what was on a particular council agenda. And sometimes, the City Manager won't even have a clue about the issue the reporter wants to ask about. He isn't, after all, omniscient, nor does he have the time to keep abreast of every issue in a city as busy as Batavia.
As for national reporters -- if only the journalists in this town that kind of access. Those national reporters can walk the halls of the White House (except for restricted areas for security reason), Congress, other government buildings, saunter into any public office and speak to whomever they like about whatever they like. Why can't a reporter do that in Batavia City Hall?
"FOIL" is still controlled by
"FOIL" is still controlled by "government" and with its many loop holes it is only going to be filtered and available at the "governments" timeline.
How about just plain, honest, neutral answers ?
Sometimes just saying "I dont know" "we are not sure".
Just answer questions or make records public knowledge.
This is the problem on city,county,state, and federal levels.
The real problem starts at federal,state,county, and city.
If you mathmatically "FOIL" them you will get the same quadratic equation.
ZERO !
That's a nice post,
That's a nice post, Philip
But sadly
in general, that's just idealistic idle chit-chat
as they say possession is 9/10ths of the law and his beliefs are held by most
part of the game whose rules were drawn up with no input from us
and this is why
YOU gotta FIGHT
foryour right
to Parrrtttttay :/