Crist: Sunshine is for everyone
March 1, 2007
Governor stresses openness to all at annual luncheon
By Bill Cotterell
FLORIDA CAPITAL BUREAU POLITICAL EDITOR
Some longtime advocates of Florida''s sunshine laws said Tuesday that Gov. Charlie Crist has set a refreshing tone of openness and public access during his first weeks in office.
Crist, the keynote speaker at an annual luncheon of the First Amendment Foundation, told reporters and editors that the public demands open records and access to official meetings.
"The people are the boss," said Crist, who set up an Office of Open Government and appointed two top aides to handle citizen problems with public-records requests on his first day in office.
He made a point of stressing bipartisanship, praising legislative leaders of both parties as well as Attorney General Bill McCollum, a Republican, and Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink, a Democrat, who all attended the luncheon.
"I know some of the stuff I say sounds corny to you, but the lieutenant governor and I are just like that," he said. "We try to keep our feet on the ground and be humble and try to serve as best we can."
Former Florida State University President Talbot "Sandy" D''Alemberte, this year''s recipient of the foundation''s Pete Weitzel "Friend of the First Amendment" Award, said he thinks Crist is sincere about running an open administration. So did former state Sen. Curt Kiser, a lobbyist for the Florida Society of Newspaper Editors and Florida Press Association, who - like D''Alemberte - has worked with governors back to Claude Kirk 40 years ago.
"He''s clearly different from what we''ve had in recent times and doesn''t seem particularly partisan in any way at all," said D''Alemberte, who was a House member in the 1960s and early 1970s. "Charlie Crist''s attitude seems to be long-standing, back to when he was attorney general."
Kiser said, "I think Gov. Crist has absolutely set a new tone. In the past, a lot of governors have given lip service to being open in their dealings, but creating this Office of Open Government was his first salvo, and he hasn''t let up since."
Crist presented a proclamation designating March 11-17 "Sunshine Week" in Florida.
As attorney general, Crist received the 2005 Pete Weitzel Award, named for the former Miami Herald senior editor who was a founder of the First Amendment Foundation, which lobbies against bills restricting public access to meetings and records. Crist said he believes in Florida''s "Government in the Sunshine" laws not just for the news media, but for the taxpayers.
"It is their government and, by golly, we have a duty to let them see it and observe it and like or dislike what''s happening," he said. "We will continue to make sure that these good laws are respected because they are the laws of the people. ... If we don''t honor those laws, we''re not honoring the people."