Sunshine Week

I read over at Plunderbund about Subodh Chandra providing his background check to his prospective employers--as someone who says that he sees the Attorney General as "the people's attorney", that would be us. You know, "We the people"? I'll have to make sure I get on Subodh's e-mail list, because I missed this...

Chandra to Provide "Background Check" to His Prospective Employers

Press Conference Announcement:
The Ohio Statehouse
Southeast Passageway
Friday, March 17, 2006
11:00 a.m.

Subodh Chandra, Democratic candidate for Ohio Attorney General, will release his full personal and professional background information at a press conference tomorrow morning (11 a.m.) at the Ohio Statehouse.

This information is being provided in honor of Sunshine Week and to give future employers - the people of Ohio - the opportunity to review his background so they can make a fully informed decision about who they want to hire as their attorney.

Today is Friday, so I guess I spent the whole week *cough* "in the dark" about Sunshine Week--I only saw the link for the first time in the post about Subodh's press conference over at Plunderbund. Bummer. There are so many good idears out there on the "internets", but there's got to be a better way of disseminating them so that people who are interested actually hear about things.

The first national Sunshine Week: Your Right to Know was launched March 13, 2005 and continued through the following Saturday. The spirit of Sunshine Week, however, lasts through the year, as newspapers, magazines, broadcasters, Web sites and others continue a dialogue about the importance of open government to the public.

"This is not just an issue for the press. It's an issue for the public," says Cox Newspapers' Washington Bureau Chief Andy Alexander, chairman of the American Society of Newspaper Editors' Freedom of Information Committee. "An alarming amount of public information is being kept secret from citizens, and the problem is increasing by the month. Not only do citizens have a right to know, they have a need to know."

"Our goal," Alexander says of Sunshine Week, "is to raise public awareness of this horrible trend that is hurting democracy."

More here.

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