BusinessTN

"Government transparency" is a buzz phrase getting its fair share of play this election year. The issue became especially relevant in East Tennessee when Knoxville's daily newspaper, The Knox News-Sentinel, filed a lawsuit against the Knox County Commission for violation of the Open Meetings Act. In that case, a jury found that commissioners had violated the so-called "Sunshine Law" during a meeting that led to the appointment of 12 new commission members.

In response, Knoxville state lawmaker Bill Dunn (R-Knoxville) introduced and passed a "Technology Sunshine" bill last legislative session aimed at making the inner workings of the Knox County Commission more accessible to citizens using modern technology. An online forum, which went live in July, allows commissioners to discuss county issues outside of public meetings but still in the public eye.

So how is it working? A recent example of the forum in action comes from Richard Briggs (5th District), a new member of the commission who posted a note to raise a red flag.

"After the proceedings on August 29, the election of committee chairmen was not done in open. The law director saw my post and agreed with me," Briggs says. "So, when committees met after that first meeting, we sat down and did it in a completely open fashion. In other words, it cured a concern and made sure we were in compliance with the Sunshine Law."

Dunn says the commissioners use the forum, but not as often as he had hoped.

"Every now and then, a hot topic comes up and it's used, but then it will die away for a while. I think one question that needs to be answered is whether county commissioners need to meet outside of public meetings," Dunn says. "If they don't use the forum, that tells us that meeting outside of regular public meetings may not be as important as we were led to believe."

Drew Johnson, executive director of the Tennessee Center for Policy Research, calls the forum "a step in the right direction."

"It's something every city and county in the state should emulate," Johnson says, "but if a government employee or elected official wants to be corrupt, no Web site or oversight efforts are going to prevent that corruption."

As for whether other local governments will follow Knoxville's lead, Dunn says voluntary change is unlikely.

"I did send an e-mail to my fellow legislators with a link to the site, suggesting that, when we return in January, others may want to participate," Dunn says. "Now that Knox County has perfected the system, it would be easy to modify it for any other city or county to use. I think it will get the most interest when a government body experiences an open meeting lawsuit. Until then, they may just do it the way they've always done it."

Johnson, whose group has pushed for all state agencies and local governments to make their check registers available online, applauds Dunn's efforts, then asks for more.

"We're big proponents of encouraging the state legislature to include themselves in the state's open records law," Johnson says. "It's offensive that the body that makes the open records law applicable for the rest of the governments in the state exempts itself from those laws."

Though Dunn thinks there is room to consider an online tool like the forum for the legislature, he thinks that the larger the number, the less the need. "There are major differences between a school board with nine members and a state legislature of 132 members plus a governor who can veto. It's much harder to have collusion with those numbers and division of power."

According to those metrics, the smaller the group, the more plentiful the shadows.