Connecticut is a model for handling open-records complaints, but not for handling appeals

During Sunshine Week, newspapers have been highlighting ways to make government more open, often by pinpointing ways it has failed to be accessible in the past. As part of its Sunshine Week series, the Des Moines Register draws attention to Connecticut's Freedom of Information Commission, which many see as an example of open government done right.

Created more than 30 years ago, the commission is "an independent, executive-branch agency that officials in other states, including Iowa, have come to consider a model nationally for resolving open records disputes," writes Lee Rood. "The commission and its staff, which has grown from roughly five to 22, handles about 700 to 800 complaints annually - most through mediation but others through a court-like process."

According to Colleen Murphy, the commission's executive director, the key is keeping the commission free from political pressure, a fact that she said allows the public to trust its decisions. (Read more)

Another highlight of the Register's series was a report on a national study that graded states' open-records laws. The study, conducted last year by the Better Government Association and sponsored by the National Freedom of Information Coalition at the University of Missouri journalism school, gave 38 states failing grades, Rood reports. Among those earning an 'F' was Connecticut, which the study said made it difficult for citizens to appeal record denials. "What the freedom-of-information research found, one open-records advocate said, was that 'the tools available to citizens to enforce their rights under state FOI laws are, with rare exceptions, endemically weak,'" Rood writes. (Read more)