Commentary: Who are you going to call?

A county commissioner refuses to let you speak at a public meeting. Who are you going to call?

A local sheriff refuses to give you access to public records. Who are you going to call?

The city is willing to give you the public records you requested, but it wants to charge you an exorbitant amount of money for the privilege. Who are you going to call?

In Florida, you call the Florida First Amendment Foundation.

Just a single letter from the Florida First Amendment Foundation to a wayward politician can yield results.

Ms. Sandy Matkivich has contacted the First Amendment Foundation expressing concerns regarding the city of West Palm Beachs failure to comply with her public records request. We respectfully suggest that the city of West Palm Beach expeditiously facilitate access to the public records requested by Ms. Matkivich. The continued delay in producing these records is unacceptable and unreasonable and is depriving Ms. Matkivich of her constitutional right of access to what clearly are public records.

The City of West Palm Beach did indeed provide Matkivich the information she requested, responding, We are immediately providing we regret any inconvenience caused to Ms. Matkivich.

Floridas First Amendment Foundation answers more than 150 hotline calls each month regarding open and transparent government in Florida. The First Amendment Foundation is considered the authority on Floridas open government laws and almost all Florida legislators consult FAF when drafting a bill that will affect Floridas open records or Sunshine laws.

They also train hundreds of people per year across the state, including government officials and employees, the media and the general public regarding the open government rules. The foundation is respected by all concerned.

FAF participates in open government litigation throughout the state, either by joining important open government cases or filing friend of the court briefs. They are quite busy filing friend of the court briefs to help keep Floridas politicians open to public scrutiny.

Read this article:
Commentary: Who are you going to call?