Open government and public access to records are essential to a healthy democracy.
That principle is the focus of Sunshine Week, which began Sunday, March 15, and continues through Saturday, March 21. Observed each year during the week of James Madison’s birthday (March 16), Sunshine Week is intended to emphasize the importance of government transparency.
That’s a subject I’m passionate about, both as a journalist and as a citizen. I believe we, the people, have an absolute right to know what our government is doing.
In Arkansas, that right is protected by one of the strongest Freedom of Information laws in the country. The Arkansas Freedom of Information Act, signed into law by then-Gov. Winthrop Rockefeller in 1967, requires governing bodies to conduct their meetings in public and ensures the right of citizens to inspect public records.
It’s a valuable tool for a journalist, and I like to think I’m fairly well-versed in what it says and how it is applied.
Unfortunately, there are politicians in our state who aren’t fond of public business being conducted in public view. On the other side of the coin are citizens who routinely abuse FOIA by filing seemingly endless requests and exaggerating any perceived failure by public officials to comply with the exact letter of the law.
I fear that government transparency in Arkansas is in jeopardy on both fronts — from politicians who would like to neuter the law and from what I refer to as “citizen activists,” who weaponize it to pursue their own agendas.
Neither is healthy for democracy.
Both of those threats can be seen right here in Carroll County. I’ve found most public officials to be earnest in doing their best to comply with the law. Some, not so much. I’m thinking particularly of Forrest Jacobi, who served as Eureka Springs city attorney until resigning in early 2025 (yet insists he retains the title as the last person elected to the position).
In 2022, I filed a fairly broad request for information from the city that resulted in a dispute over the amount city officials attempted to bill me for fulfilling my request. After I objected — strenuously — Mr. Jacobi submitted an invoice for nearly $17,000 that detailed time he claimed was spent by city employees responding to
requests from our newspapers dating back to 2019. I presume that by now Mr. Jacobi has stopped waiting by the mailbox for that big check.
My battle of wills with Mr. Jacobi notwithstanding, I believe most of our local public officials would agree that I don’t submit frivolous requests for information and I don’t get bent out of shape if it takes them longer to respond than the timeline prescribed by law. In fact, I file very few formal requests. If I need something, I pick up the phone and ask for it nicely.
Unfortunately, there are some folks right here in Carroll County who see the FOIA as a means to an end: By asking for every record under the sun, they tie up county officials and then pick every nit, making mountains out of molehills in a seemingly never-ending pursuit of some giant scandal or conspiracy.
In my opinion, flooding our local officials with requests in that manner amounts to harassment. It serves no purpose other than to gum up the gears of government.
It also provides ammunition for those who would like to water down the law and reduce government transparency.
The Arkansas Freedom of Information Act must be preserved. And those who truly value it should stop giving its enemies an excuse to weaken it.
• • •
Scott Loftis is editor and publisher of the Eureka Springs Times-Echo.
Comments
No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here