President’s message:

Time to look ahead and prepare to survive, thrive

By Mike Fancher, WashCOG president

2027 will be a milestone for open government in Washington state. It will mark the 55th anniversary of the 1972 citizens’ initiative that led to our current Public Records and Open Government Acts, among other reforms.

It will also mark the 25th anniversary of the founding of the Washington Coalition for Open Government as an independent, nonpartisan advocate for the people’s right to access government information and activity.

More importantly, it will be a time for reckoning. 

The people’s right to know in Washington has been eroding for years and is at an inflection point. WashCOG has sounded this alarm many times and in many ways. At best, we have been able to slow the erosion in some important areas. (See the legislative report and update on the legislative privilege lawsuit in this newsletter as examples.)

Overall, we feel we’re winning some important victories while still losing the war. Too many government officials and agencies see openness as a luxury they can’t afford and we don’t need. We believe they’re wrong on both counts.

Protecting the people’s right to know shouldn’t be this hard. It’s time for WashCOG to identify strategic re-directions going forward. Or as a friend recently wrote to me: “You don’t want to spend any more time fighting this old war. It appears to me to be lost. Better to start fresh.”

What does that look like, and where do you fit in? We’ll spend the remainder of this year addressing those questions as we aim to honor the anniversaries of 2027 with action that advances the cause.

Here are projects we foresee:

Collective Power – Building a Movement

Our Government, Legal and Communications committees will continue to fight legislative secrecy. We will fortify those efforts with a new focus on broadening our base of support among like-minded organizations. We will also continue to seek and find people throughout the state who want to help make a difference. I like to think of it as moving beyond a coalition to building a movement.

WashCOG isn’t alone in its frustration with erosion of the public’s right to know, but efforts to promote open government are fragmented. Organizationally, we would like to raise accountability and transparency issues with natural allies so that access is protected for citizens, media, and watchdog organizations. 

Likewise, we want to engage government organizations to reimagine open government as a core public service rather than an administrative burden. It is past time to modernize the Public Records Act and the Open Public Meetings Act to better serve the public’s right to know.  Modernization must mean more access for the public, not less.

WashCOG’s National Networking Project

The goal of the NNP will be to bring together a nationwide network of open government advocates and experts who can evaluate transparency on a national level and monitor anti-transparency trends as they pop up in states outside Washington. This network will share information with each other, the WashCOG board, and the public.

Part of the mission will be to share strategies with other state organizations that care about transparency and open government even if outside of their main mission. It is our desire that such a group will have valuable insights to share with the WashCOG board regarding trends, policy, and fundraising innovations.

Funding and support

Generous support from significant donors has enabled us to fight more effectively in recent years. Now we must grow our capacity and bases of support for these developing strategies.

We will do this by helping you understand WHY transparency is important to you in your personal and civic life. And, we will create opportunities for you to help with the cause.