Problems with the Washington Sunshine Committee go beyond a panel designed to oversee transparency in state government. They are reflective of persistent — and growing — efforts to undermine the nation’s social structure and diminish or eliminate the role of government in that structure.
That might sound like hyperbole when talking about an oft-overlooked state commission. But if reflects an issue that is a threat to our democracy and warrants attention.
Let’s start with the Washington Sunshine Committee. Officially named the Public Records Exemptions Accountability Committee, the group reviews exemptions to the state’s Public Records Act — a 50-year-old voter-approved law that demands transparency from public officials.
That law codifies that emails, work schedules and government documents belong to the people. The act states: “The people, in delegating authority, do not give their public servants the right to decide what is good for the people to know and what is not good for them to know. The people insist on remaining informed so that they may maintain control over the instruments that they have created.”
But over the years, lawmakers have worked to enshrine secrecy. Various attempts to exempt themselves from the Public Records Act have been made, and recently some legislators have taken to claiming “legislative privilege” in denying public records requests. State law makes no mention of “legislative privilege.”
In the wake of such obfuscation, members of the Sunshine Committee have opened talks about disbanding. According to Crosscut.com, Chair Linda Krese has asked Gov. Jay Inslee to not reappoint her, writing that she didn’t want “to spend time volunteering for something as purposeless as this committee.” Krese added, “If the Legislature has no interest in the work of the Public Records Exemptions Accountability Committee, they should pass legislation to abolish it.”
Indeed, there are government commissions and agencies that have outlived their usefulness or, perhaps, had little use to begin with. Shrinking government can enhance efficiency and fiscal responsibility. But when the issue touches upon government transparency and accountability, which are foundational pillars of our representative democracy, it reveals larger fissures in our nation.
The 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol is the most prominent example. A defeated presidential candidate ignored the will of the people, and his supporters attacked a citadel of democracy. The message: Our righteous certitude supersedes the U.S. Constitution, which we willfully ignore.
But efforts to undermine democracy are not exclusive to one party or the other, nor are they exclusive to high-profile events.
Last month, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., called on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to ignore an expected court ruling that could halt access to abortion pills. Calling on the regulatory state to ignore a court ruling is an affront to the checks and balances that have held this nation together for more than 200 years.
In other examples, the Trump administration spent four years undermining government from within. Trump’s list of appointees who were anti-government critics — including as agency heads — is long and disturbing.
The people have a right to petition the government for a redress of grievances. But when that government willfully ignores the structure that has been put in place by the people — whether at the U.S. Capitol or in a small state commission — then we are entering dangerous territory.
