Open Government Is Essential to Democracy

“Don’t Let Government Hide” (editorial, March 12) hit the nail on the head. All too often public officials, both elected and appointed, have acted as though their jobs give them unlimited authority to do as they please without proper “airing” to determine if their actions are for the public good. All people in government should act like the Great Man said: Government of the people, by the people and for the people.

Unfortunately the pols--who do things contrary to the law and even in spite of it--go unpunished because most of the laws mandating that they work in the open do not detail punishment. If Senate President Pro Tem John Burton’s (D-San Francisco) SCA 7 includes punishment for those who defy the law, fine. If it does not, it’s a typical political boondoggle designed to fool the people. Let’s let the voters know out loud, so that they will get mad enough to vote the rascals and their henchmen out.

David Datz

Indian Wells