Tampa Bay Times from St. Petersburg, Florida • 77

1 i EDITORIALS "BUSINESS 0 section SUNDAY, APRIL 24. 1977 ST. PETERSBURG TIMES ft If lis A SPECIAL REPORT "Sunshine," Florida-style, is beginning to lighten the smoke-filled rooms of Washington. Florida's two United States senators have led the push for more open meetings and this state's 1967 Government-in-the-Sunshine Law served as the model for new federal legislation. In this special report, United Press International examines the "sunshine revolution" in the nation's capital and elsewhere.

Sunshine revolution in nation's capital a 'mixed blessing' tm rthiii Mi'hiiTT lewi i i nn' Hri' i Here's how federal law will work Open doors By GENE BERHARDT United Prate International WASHINGTON Sam Gibbons laughs when people ask him if it is true he once picked up a heavy water pitcher and had to be restrained from heaving it at a colleague during a. heated, closed-door session to draft a poverty bill. The congressman from Florida says the story has gained something in the re-telling. He says if reporters had been present at that closed meeting in the late 1960s, they would have seen it was all in fun and not nearly as ominous as legend would have it. A DECADE later reporters are present at such congressional committee bill-drafting sessions, and very few water pitchers are hurled.

The audience also might include lobbyists and tourists who just happen by all of them the beneficiaries of "sunshine" rules adopted by the House in 1973 and the Senate in 1975. All sessions of regular, select and special congressional committees now are open unless there is a recorded vote, taken in public, to them. Even then executive sessions are 'supposed to be conducted only when national 'security or personnel is being discussed or Sunshine law movement came from states first 4 npfie ifiuii.fr mm work well meetings better prepared, so as to present knowledgeable image." "PUBLIC sessions keep a man from thinking out loud," countered Rep. Richard Ichord, who had reservations about the rule when it was adopted four years ago. "It also inhibits the use of four-letter words.

Some members need to use that language to adequately express themselves. The result is they just don't say anything in open session. Then, too, some members are concerned their questions might sound ignorant, something they wouldn't be afraid of in a closed session," said Ichord. Rep. Samuel Stratton, also had reservations back in 1973.

He noted that often it takes up to half an hour to get a quorum to vote to close a meeting. "All those people who pushed these reforms said it was in the interest of speeding up the work of the House, but they've ended up in slowing it down." Rep. Dante Fascell, D-Fla was an early leader in the sunshine fight and while he thought the rule generally is "working well," said there are still a "few diehards, like Armed Services and Appropriations." See CONGRESS, 3-D Most of the state laws have some provision for closing meetings most often when personnel hiring or disciplinary decisions that could affect the reputations of individuals are under consideration. DISCUSSIONS of collective bargaining strategy with unions, crime prevention, property acquisition and a few other areas also are exempted in some states. The states whose legislatures are exempt from sunshine requirements are Alabama, Georgia, Hawaii, Indiana, Iowa Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nebraska, Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma, Virginia, Washington and Wyoming.

The states which have no sanctions for violation of open meetings laws are Alaska, Colorado, Delaware, Idaho, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Rhode Island, West Virginia and Wyoming. The Maryland penalties are backed by executive order rather than statute. sitive matters are discussed trade secrets or criminal charges, for example. Chiles says some agencies are trying to use the exemptions to squirm out of the law. "Some have discussed holding closed 'briefing sessions' before their official meetings," he says.

"These would become pre-meeting meetings, and the formal meetings would be a mere formality. That sort of thing frightens me." HE PLEDGES he will try to tighten up on the exemptions if agencies use them as loopholes. "Once you get in the habit of meeting in the open, it becomes almost as convenient as doing the old way," Chiles says. "Maybe it is a little inconvenient, but the tradeoff is that people regain confidence in what you're doing. People feel that what happens behind closed doors is much worse than what actually happens." Chiles feels the Washington press corps has been lackadaisical about pushing for sunshine laws and about attending meetings once they became open.

"The press never got into the fight," he says. "They were used to doing business the old way too." He praised President Carter for his campaign promises of an open regime, and for his relatively relaxed acceptance of news leaks within the Administration. BUT HE SAID there was "backsliding" when the Office of Management and Budget refused to disclose the budget requests agencies submitted to Carter. He thinks Congress and the public are entitled to know agencies' "wish lists." Chiles wants Carter to translate his open government pledges into executive orders. "Let's face it," he says, "the bureaucracy outnumbers Carter's appointees and the tendency is to do things the same old way." J) 3 in Congress when the law requires confidentiality.

The lawmakers found their own new open-door style of business worked so well that they decreed the same for federal agencies, starting last month. "We've gone from 90 per cent of the meetings closed as recently as 1970 to more than 90 per cent of them open today," said Richard Conlon, director of the Democratic Study Group, a liberal organization of House Democrats which pioneered the open meeting concept. Fred Wertheimer, vice president of Common Cause, the citizens' action group which joined DSG in the fight against "secrecy," said "one beneficial result is that members come to SAM GIBBONS it was all in fun. lobbies for and keeps a boxscore on such issues, 34 states passed or strengthened their open meetings laws between November, 1972 and the end of 1976. Thirty four of the state sunshine laws cover both state agencies and legislatures and local governments.

The other 16 exempt legislatures only from open meeting requirements. Thirty seven of the states require advance public notice be given of government meetings; 32 of them require official minutes be kept. Thirty six of the state sunshine laws carry penalties. Sanctions range from simple misdemeanors in a number of states to possible removal from public office for violators in Ohio and Maryland. SEN.

CHILES SEN. STONE moved his office door from its hinges when he arrived in 1975, published his income tax return and ordered members of his staff earning over $15,000 to reveal their income tax returns, too. HE INVITES anyone to walk into his office, sit in on meetings, listen to his phone conversations, read his mail, rifle through his files. "I've never experienced an incident of discourtesy or intrusion," he says. His staff says reporters rarely take advantage of his offer, but visiting constituents occasionally do.

Stone refuses to attend closed meetings (except those closed because they concerned sensitive national security matters). He's been battling to open Senate Democratic caucuses, and boycotting them until they open. Chiles, chairman of a Senate subcommittee overseeing spending efficiency and open government, intends to keep a close watch on how the Sunshine Law, which went into effect last month, is working. He plans hearings in July. THE LAW requires open meetings by any agency run by presidential appointees requiring Senate confirmation.

At least 46 boards and agencies are affected, ranging from the Board for International Broadcasting to the U.S. Railway Association. The law permits closed meetings if certain sen the a it 3' By Unitad Prcu International It is a myth that governmental reform springs from a federal fountainhead. In the area of open governments, the states have been far ahead of Washington. Florida's broad "government in the sunshine" act was signed into law on July 12, 1967.

By December, 1976, all 50 states had "sunshine" laws. The federal open meetings law for executive agencies did not go into effect until March, and many states give citizens far more access to government information and operations. THE SUNSHINE law movement really got rolling after the Watergate scandal broke. According to Common Cause, which By CLAY F. RICHARDS United Prau International WASHINGTON The "sunshine" revolution in Washington is proving a bonanza to lawyers and scholars, a mixed blessing to reporters and editors, a nightmare to some bureaucrats.

A body of laws and regulations, usually lumped under the "sunshine" label, provides citizens the right to see government information and witness decision-making that routinely has been kept secret in the past. This has occurred gradually over a period of years a quiet revolution in a city where access to information is a key to power. The Freedom of Information Act (FOI) was passed in 1966 and was all but useless until a series of recent amendments permitted Americans the right to see a wide range of previously confidential government documents and files. In many cases these included dossiers on themselves compiled by federal law enforcement and security agencies. AND SINCE last month, a long list of government agencies including the Federal Reserve Board, the Federal Communications Commission, the Food and Drug Administration are holding open meetings for the first time under provisions of the 1976 "Sunshine Act." Meetings dealing with pending regulations, enforcement cases, personnel and national security matters still can be closed but the percentage is quite small.

The laws have not opened all the file cabinets in Washington. National security information remains classified and there is much controversy about just what legitimately ought to be kept secret under that classification. Thus an individual may learn that his name is on some list in an FBI file. But everything about the list except his name may be kept secret for national security reasons or because the Privacy Act forbids release of information affecting other individuals. THE LAWS provide a legal mechanism to force reluctant bureaucrats to yield up information they want kept secret.

And individuals, like Ralph Nader and former national security adviser Morton Halperin, and groups like Common Cause, have filed suit to free up information. Many provisions of the sunshine laws are designed to help the media report the activities of government. But sunshine has drawn mixed reviews from the press. There is some feeling the requirement for open meetings has resulted in transferring the give-and-take of decisionmaking to private, pre-session negotiations, leaving only final votes taken in public. Hobart Rowen, veteran business writer for the Washington Post, last month attended the first open meeting of the Federal Reserve Board.

"THE RESULTS: nothing of more than marginal importance, couched in very dull, very polite, very serious language," Rowen reported. He said the meeting "demonstrated that very little sunshine will illuminate the most important policy matters discussed by the Fed," but still the experience was valuable be cause it showed how strongly the board was dominated by chairman Arthur Burns. UPI reporters who cover other agencies opened up under the sunshine act report similar experiences. Seldom does startling news come from the public meetings, but insights are gained and often something is mentioned in passing that if pursued can unlock significant information. FBI Director Clarence M.

Kelleysaid, 'Aside from the cost factor, we cannot ignore the fact that by diverting these field agents from their normal duties we will be losing about 85-man years of investigative Here is a summary of the "government in the sunshine" law which took effect March 12 requiring federal agencies to permit the public to attend most of their meetings. According to Lawton Chiles, chief Senate sponsor, the law applies to meetings of agencies, boards and commissions of two or more members if most of their members are appointed by the president with confirmation by the Senate. Chiles said 46 agencies are covered. With certain exemptions, regular ses sions of the agencies plus any meeting where a quorum of members discuss agency business must be open to the public and the press with a week's advance notice given of the meeting's topic, time and place. But meetings may be closed when discussions involve: Matters which have been established by executive order of the president to be closed in tha interest of national defense or foreign k' Internal personnel rules and practices of the agency.

Matters specifically exempted by law from disclosure. Trade secrets or commercial or financial information obtained in confidence. Accusations of a crime or formal censuring of a person. Information which, if disclosed, would invade someone's privacy. Information gathered in the examination or supervision of financial institutions.

Information the premature disclosure of which would endanger the stability of a financial institution. Issuance of a subpoena by the agency or the agency's participation in a civil court case. When a meeting is closed, the reason must be certified by the agency's chief legal officer. Agencies are required to make copies of minutes of meetings available to tha public et the cost of duplicating or transcribing. After notice is given of meeting, the time, place or subject can be changed only by the recorded vote of a majority of members.

Not all federal agencies required a law to pry open their meetings. The Federal Election Commission (FEC) decided at its first meeting three years ago to meet in public. It always has done its business in the sunshine except for discussion of campaign law violation complaints, which by law are secret until the commission has disposed of the case. THE SUNSHINE law also has not resulted in coverage of all newly opened meetings. Even the wire services, broadcast networks and big newspapers do not have enough reporters in Washington to cover them all.

And, news editors say many are not significant enough to warrant coverage anyway. But sunshine isn't just for the press. A spot check of agency business sessions or a look at written requests for documents under the Freedom of Information Act shows the laws are used more by lobbyists, lawyers, students and authors than by journalists. The Federal Trade Commission recently published a list of 45 requests for information filed with it under the FOI Act. Only two were from reporters.

Nine were in the names of individuals some of whom may have been lawyers. The rest were from law firms or corporations apparently seeking information in lawsuits. AUTHORS AND college students writing term papers write in for recently declassified material. The government does the research and often much of the writing and charges only the cost of copying. For the CIA and the FBI at the rate of 60 a day and the agency has put two task forces of 200 agents each to work on the nine-month backlog.

The situation became so bad recently the FBI brought in agents from around the country at a cost of to work on the requests. "We haven't been able to bail out the boat fast enough to keep pace with the massive waves of requests," said FBI director Clarence Kelley, who added the cost this year alone will reach at least See FEDERAL 3-D They're called the 'Sunshine Boys' By MIKE FEINSILBER United PrM International WASHINGTON You might call Florida senators Lawton Chiles and Richard Stone "The Sunshine Boys." Chiles, 47, made enactment of his "government in the sunshine" bill the premier goal of his first term. It took the full six years. He says colleagues laughed when he introduced the bill in August, 1972. Watergate helped pass it, he says.

Stone, 49, also champions open government but on a more personal level. He re- nSIDE perspective VOYAGE After the first 1 00 days of the voyage 'captain' Jimmy Carter seems to be en unsettling presence to those who know everything. George Will column. 3-D. TWO Columnist Joe Kraft wonders whether President Carter can meld his two constituencies the people and the Congress, 2-D.

CHANGE Common Cause, the self-styled people's lobby, is changing helmsmen after seven successful yeers. Broder column, 3-0. WAVES Kesh N' Kerry, a relatively small Tampa-bated supermarket chein, will make big waves soon: John Hell story. 4-D. Business news 4-0 through 1 3-D..