Aeration - Carolina Weekly Newspapers

Opinion
That dog won’t hunt
Managing
eDitor
Frank
Deloache
OK, folks, do you
feel a lot better not
knowing when Jim
Bensman’s going on
vacation?
I know a lot of people
must have been
worried about it, after
Cornelius Today published
the password
to a public e-mail file,
which would have
allowed Cornelius
Page 20 • The Herald Weekly • Oct. 1-7, 2010
residents to read e-mails written by and
to their elected officials about the town’s
business. Horrors!
Those e-mails are, by state law, public
record, but Jim apparently was afraid he
might let slip something in those thousands
of e-mails that had piled up in that
public e-mail account about his vacation
plans.
And, darn, after some hardworking
thieves went through all those e-mails
and found it, they were going to burglarize
Jim’s house while he was away.
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After Cornelius Today published the
password, Jim was outraged, although he
never produced a single example of an e-
mail that might tip any burglar to any of
the commissioners’ travel plans.
Police Chief Bence Hoyle was worried
about the pornographers. He knew some
hacker was just dying to use the password
to get into the Cornelius system and then
send out dozens of explicit photos from
the town’s website.
So put those two officials’ concerns together,
and Cornelius transforms itself instantly
from a leader in transparency and
open government to just another town government
that regards openness and public
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records as one more pain and something
they can do every 30 days.
Thanks to Bensman and Chief Hoyle,
Cornelius is now average. Not as closed as
Davidson, which makes no regular release
of public e-mail, but certainly nothing to
brag about.
So, now that the commissioners and
Chief Hoyle are feeling safer, do you feel
more confident about your town government?
In two months – after the town board
has approved a new, greatly debated sign
ordinance – you can ask the town for all
the e-mail collected over 30 days and then
held for 30 days and see how many business
people – and which ones – sent commissioners
e-mail expressing their displeasure
about those proposed restrictions on
real estate sales banners.
Of course, the debate will be over and
the ordinance on the books.
Or you might find in all those e-mails if
anyone has lobbied commissioners about
favorable zoning – or about their opposition
to zoning – for an expanded or new
business on the west side of Interstate 77
off Catawba Avenue.
But even if you took the time to look
through them, the town board may already
have voted and moved on to the next
issue.
Yes, reporters like me might take the
time to go through those e-mails to see
what your elected officials are talking
about. But chances are I’ll be writing three
to five stories about things that are going
on right now, and I really don’t have the
time to go back through 30 days of 30-to-
60-day old e-mail.
On the other hand, when commissioners’
e-mails were available in real time
under the old system, I tell you without
doubt that I found stories that I would
never have known were there.
Is 30 days a “reasonable time” to delay
releasing public e-mail? As a journalist, I
don’t think so. I don’t know what residents
think.
The law is vague, so that allows Cornelius,
Huntersville (90-day delay) and others
to get away with doing it.
On the other hand, when Cornelius was
setting an example of openness, commissioners
were sending their e-mail to that
public account every day. Why could they
not continue sending their e-mail daily
to a town account, enabling town staff to
burn a disc as a routine every week?
To his credit, Anthony Roberts suggested
a 7-day delay in releasing e-mail. But
Bensman thought that still left the door
open to those damn burglars.
Why do public officials have to make
the public’s business so complicated? Why
do journalists and citizens have to apologize
for demanding that government operate
with transparency? Why do citizens let
elected officials get away with blaming the
public for asking them to provide public
records in a timely fashion?
And as smart as Jim Bensman is, why
can’t he simply remember not to write his
vacation plans in public e-mails?
Being raised a redneck from the backwoods
of South Carolina, I may not have
as much education as Jim and other elected
officials in our fair towns, but I know
that dog won’t hunt. q
www.huntersvilleherald.com