It’s Sunshine Week: Ann Arbor and Michigan Struggle With Governmental Transparency

by Dave Alexander

In recognition of Sunshine Week, a time that highlights the need for transparency and accountability in government, Progress Michigan is rolling out several major updates to the Sunshine Squad, an online tool that now allows citizens to keep track of legislative votes, campaign finance info, committee assignments, and lobbying.

Sunshine Week runs from March 12-March 18 and is annual nationwide celebration of access to public information and what it means for citizens and communities.

There is one Sunshine Week event scheduled in Michigan:

Luncheon Lectures: Michigan’s Freedom of Information Act
North Central Michigan College, Petoskey, MI
You have the right to full and complete information regarding the affairs of government and the official acts of those who represent you. Robin Luce-Hermann, general counsel to the Michigan Press Association, explains how you can use FOIA and the Michigan Open Meetings Act to more fully participate in the democratic process.

“Information is power and what we wanted to do with the Sunshine Squad is put data at the finger tips of Michigan residents that is often hard to locate, sporadic, or difficult to decipher all in an effort to hold their elected officials accountable and create more transparency in the legislative process,” said Sean Tobin, lead data and policy analyst at Progress Michigan.

The updated Sunshine Squad website features:

• Recently introduced bills
• Upcoming committee meetings
• House and Senate committee assignments
• Individual legislator’s recent voting records
• Monetary figures showing how lawmakers are lobbied
• Top 100 contributors to elected officials

“We hope that this tool will be used by citizens, activists and reporters to shine more light on what’s going on in Lansing,” said Lonnie Scott, executive director of Progress Michigan. “The saying ‘follow the money’ is great advice for holding elected officials accountable, but that data is often not easily available for regular folks. With the Sunshine Squad, anyone can dive into campaign donations and lobbying expenditures with ease.”

On Feb. 1, Michigan legislator Donna Lasinski (D-Scio Township) introduced legislation that would extend Freedom of Information Act requests to apply to the governor’s office and create a Legislative Open Records Act for the state Legislature. Rep. Adam Zemke (D-Ann Arbor) was a co-sponsor of the legislation.

State Rep. Adam Zemke, (D-Ann Arbor) applauded the legislation to open the Legislature and governor’s office to FOIA requests, saying he’s proud to be a co-sponsor in the bipartisan effort.

Zemke told the media that Michigan ranks “last in government transparency and ethics.” The problem, however, is not confined to the State House in Lansing.

“Michigan has some of the worst transparency and ethics laws in the country and we’re doing what we can to fix that problem. Citizens deserve to know how their elected officials are voting, where they’re getting their campaign money from, and who is lobbying them. This tool will help them do that,” said Sean Tobin.

Ann Arbor local government, under the leadership of Mayor Chris Taylor, has increasingly been criticized for thwarting reasonable access to public records. At the same time, Ann Arbor’s City Clerk has complained of her office’s difficulties in fulfilling public records requests submitted. However, the transparency or lack thereof of local government and City Council has been an ongoing debate between candidates for local office.

MLive government reporter Ryan Stanton has repeatedly complained to elected officials and in his articles about his difficulties in obtaining public records from Ann Arbor. Former AnnArborChronicle.com owners Mary Morgan and David Askins in 2015 sued the Downtown Development Authority (whose members are appointed and whose work is overseen by City Council) for violations of the State’s Open Meetings Act, as well as the FOIA statute. The DDA’s attorney, Jerry Lax, lost the case against Askins, who represented himself.

University of Michigan is currently being sued for allegedly flaunting FOIA statute regulations and the Ann Arbor Public Schools, as well, (under a previous FOIA coordinator) has been caught not adhering to the rules outlined in the statute.

One ray of sunshine in Ann Arbor is a public entity that scrupulously adheres to FOIA regulations, the Ann Arbor District Library. Even when the public records showed library officials had deliberately withheld information from the public about crime and drug use in the library, the incident report records and emails were turned over promptly to The Ann Arbor Independent.

As recently as June 2016, a block of Council members voted 6-5 against a resolution which would have made public a draft copy of the city’s Ann Arbor [Train] Station alternatives analysis report. The same six Council members (Chris Taylor (D), Zachary Ackerman (D-Ward 3), Julie Grand (D-Ward 3), Graydon Krapohl (D-Ward 4), Chip Smith (D-Ward 5) and Kirk Westphal (D-Ward 2) also refused to release complete copies of emails between the city, the Federal Railroad Administration and the Michigan Department of Transportation regarding the project. Only heavily redacted emails were released.

Jason Frenzel (D-Ward 1) said at a 2016 candidate form, “he trusts the city staff’s judgment not to release certain information.” He went on to say, “I think challenging our staff in a public forum isn’t necessarily the healthiest way for an organization to behave. So, I don’t believe that we should open up the redactions.” Frenzel lost the 2016 primary election, but was later chosen from among five applicants by Council to fill a vacancy on Council.

The Sunshine Squad is purely informational and features no analysis or input on bills or voting records. The site self-updates on a regular basis so the most recent and accurate information will be available to users. The website for the Sunshine Squad is www.SunshineSquad.progressmichigan.org