The South Dakota Newspaper Association thinks Senator Corey Brown (R-23/Gettysburg) deserves an award for open-government advocacy. “Defender of the public“—really, Bob? Senator Brown tries to make it harder for citizens to place their names and their initiatives and referenda on the ballot, and that’s “defending the public”? The South Dakota Newspaper Association must have a pretty shallow pool of “defenders of the public” from which to choose for its awards.
Whatever veneer of openness Senator Brown and his colleagues have thinly brushed over their power-clinging closedness, it’s going to cost us more:
South Dakota newspapers would be allowed to charge 2 percent more for legal advertising such as public notices and minutes from government meetings, under a rules change approved Tuesday.
The Legislature’s Rules Review Committee gave the green light to the rate increase. The previous one came in 2007. The increase that year was 3 percent [Bob Mercer, “After Eight Years, a 2 Percent Increase for Legal Notices,” Mitchell Daily Republic, 2016.04.13].
SDNA chief Dave Bordewyk notes that his organization still posts legals for free online. That’s a nice service, but SDNA still resists any effort to change the requirement that every public body publish its legals in an official newspaper. And strangely, SDNA deletes those online notices after just three months “due to the time sensitive nature of the material,” denying South Dakotans a convenient archive of board minutes. Citizens seeking information on past board actions still have to go to the library or the newspaper office to flip through actual pages and pore over the tiny, often unformatted print to find the evidence they need to understand what City Hall has been up to.
Maybe the next Legislature should give openness a real boost and require that every public body in South Dakota submit its minutes, with complete financial reports, to the Legislative Research Council, which would permanently archive those documents on the expansive state server. We could require boards to submit minutes in searchable format—only supplementary documents, like diagrams, blueprints, and exhibits submitted by the public in paper form, could be submitted as scanned images. A permanent, state-run archive of legal notices would surely win the next openness award from our journalism community.
The iowa Invasive Species (me) thinks Master Cory, Decent Human Being, deserves an award for open-government advocacy. I fixed it for you. :)
Rod Hall was disappointed that Angela Kenneke was not awarded The Eagle Award for 2016. Her two Eric Severid sp? awards will have to make up for it. Anyway, I was proud to have nominated Angela for that award. Cory, you have new competition in Aberdeen for keeping the public informed. Rod Hall 2003 Eagle Award winner.
Sen Brown can take his shiny new award and retire to Gettysburg and it can’t happen soon enough to suit me. Bob Mercer seems to disagree, claiming that the public is losing one of its “defenders” with Brown’s retirement. Does Mercer not recall Brown’s broadside against public involvement in the political process – his SB 166 from the 2015 Session? Brown was all in favor of public participation – as long as we agreed with whatever he suggested.
brown was responsible for shutting down Indian use of SDGNB to institute a democratic process to raise the issue of offensive grographic names in SD, preserving scheonbeck’s racist legislation, likely carrying water for the governor. this occurred in senate affairs sub-committee. HB 2060
mercer must mean open government for white blue eyed blond germans:)
Rod! Interesting to see KELO and Kennecke got merit awards but not first place for investigative reporting on GEAR UP/Mid-Central and the payday lender petition scam (ah, the chase in the blue dress… but nothing for my man Cully Williams and his SDSU petitioner video?). I can see SDNA arguing that kennecke isn’t really advocating for open government; she’s just investigating bad actors in government in GEAR UP.
I noticed there were a couple other of the legislatures who were lauded for their pushes and achievements for this open government business. They should all get lauded not just this Mr. Brown. Mr. Brown wants to own Gettysburg and run for Governor, more than likely. I also appreciate the other fellows.
This is one of the most prestigious awards one in the legislatures can win. Previous winners are some of the most effective ever to have served in the legislatures. Congratulations, Mr. Brown. You join an elite group indeed.
As a trustee on our sanitary district, it’s frustrating to be charged by the word for minutes. We have to be super concise to save money for our district, and then we have to publish in That Sioux Falls Paper, when very few of our district members get it.
Everybody in our district gets the weekly shopper, and some townships publish there in addition to their legal requirement. But the fact is the weekly shopper doesn’t meet legal requirements for public notice (and that’s a load of crap).
Cory, I think it’d be awesome to submit minutes electronically to the SDLRC. I’ve been a vanguard for electronic record keeping, discharge report submission, etc. I’m willing to bet there are a lot of governmental entities out there without the technical expertise to use online portals.
Wayne! You’re a sanitary district trustee? I apologize if I’ve forgotten about your occupation of that noble post. Which district? How long have you been on? Is there no nearer, smaller paper that you could designate as your official paper?
I agree, advertising in the largest paper in the state seems an unfair burden on your surely tiny budget. E-minutes minded by the state seems a better solution.