Although North Dakota adopted an open records law as early as 1957, today the foundation of a citizen's right to access public records and meetings is found in the following 1978 amendment to the North Dakota's Constitution:

Unless otherwise provided by law, all records of public or governmental bodies, boards, bureaus, commissions, or agencies of the state or any political subdivision of the state, or organizations or agencies supported in whole or in part by public funds, or expending public funds, shall be public records, open and accessible for inspection during reasonable office hours.

As North Dakota's attorney general, I became North Dakota's leading advocate for, and enforcer of, North Dakota's open records and meeting laws. Accordingly I have maintained strong opinions about the critical importance of these laws. In celebration of Sunshine Week 2008 I want to offer several reasons why these laws are so important.

First, without access to information, democracy is not possible. U.S. President James Madison, offered this insight in 1833:

"A popular Government, without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a prologue to a farce or a tragedy; or, perhaps both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives."

The founding fathers understood that any democracy is dependent on the ability of the citizens to acquire information about their government. Simply put, the people are the boss and the boss needs information to dictate policies and decisions. Citizens pay for this government; citizens should have access to as much information as is possible to verify that they are getting their money's worth.

Second, citizens need access to information to be effective watchdogs of government. Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis once said "Sunshine is the best disinfectant." What if public officials' travel records were not public records? How differently would officials travel? When I was Attorney General I developed a conflict of interest policy for the agencies for which I had responsibility.

During that process I debated whether public employees could take free professional sports tickets offered by business doing business with state agency. I heard loud protests that these professional public officials would never compromise their duties in exchange for sports tickets. I offered the compromise that the staff could take the tickets but would have to report that fact in a public record. That suggestion met with equal resistance because the staff knew that being forced to report the perk of tickets would greatly dampen their enthusiasm and enjoyment of those tickets. Oh, the power of sunshine. Sunshine changes behavior, and changes behavior for the better.

Finally, open records and meetings laws protect the rights of the minority. Assume that you just voted for a new county commissioner because the current county commission was making decisions that you, and obviously a majority of the county's citizens, did not agree with.

Now assume that before every commission meeting, the old commissioners got together and make all the decisions in secret before the meeting. In such a case the rights of the minority member of the commission and the people who elected him or her have been violated. It is the citizen's right to watch how decisions are made by their elected officials and it is the right of every member of a board or commission to participate in that decision making.

Too often open record and open meetings laws are seen as the media's right to access government information. The reality is, the media has no greater access to records and meeting than any citizen. Fortunately for all of North Dakota's citizens, the media has taken the leadership role for this important right and accordingly the media has furthered the cause of our democracy by protecting information which furthers our public policy decisions, honest government and minority rights.