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| Assistant professor Tony Fargo |
Indiana Coalition for Open Government commissioned the survey to learn the opinions of people who used the state’s Public Access Counselor office to resolve access issues. Fargo was lead researcher on the survey, with assistance from doctoral student Yunjuan Luo, who helped write the final report. Street designed the final report, which is downloadable on ICOG Web site.
ICOG, a nonprofit organization seeking to protect the rights of access to public records and meetings, received funding for the survey from the National Freedom of Information Coalition, which supports a network of freedom of information groups. NFOIC had received a grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. Established in 1950, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation makes national grants in journalism, education and arts and culture.
The Indiana PAC was created in 1998 after seven newspapers in Indiana audited public records and found violations (or non-disclosure) by public officials. Indiana access laws, or sunshine laws, require open access to most public records and meetings, but the audit found some local governments were in violation.
The telephone survey conducted last fall through IU’s Center for Survey Research included 120 people who had consulted with the PAC one or more times over the previous two years.
Fargo and Luo used the data to write the report. Some notable findings:
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- Nearly 91 percent believe the PAC should have enforcement authority to levy fines or issue enforcement actions on officials who violate state information access laws;
- More than 55 percent had contacted the PAC more than once;
- A majority, 65 percent, believed PAC’s formal advisory opinion contributed to their gaining access to a record or entry to a meeting.
