We've just changed the clocks to give us more sunshine in our days. Now it's time to move our coverage ahead for more sunshine in government. Sunshine Week 2008 got underway on Sunday, March 16, and there are still plenty of opportunities to participate, either with original work or by utilizing the myriad of resources in our online toolkit.The focus this year is the Sunshine Campaign, a yearlong effort to drive access to government meetings and information (or the lack thereof) as a campaign issue at all levels of government. To help focus your efforts, there are several Sunshine Campaign-specific resources on our Web site, including sample questions for candidates; an overview of where the leading three presidential candidates stand on openness; print, Web and broadcast public service ads featuring actors and Sunshine Campaign imagery; and links to other resources.
In addition to the campaign, there is also the usual collection of opinion columns, editorial cartoons, graphics and links to other work.
Some news outlets are asking their readers to suggest the questions on open government they'd like answered, while others are focusing on how access to this information has affected the community - either through their news reporting or led by citizens' action. There are also forums, information audits and other coordinated plans in the works.
The Sunshine Week Web site will showcase a variety of Sunshine Week work from around the country. Please consider sending yours via e-mail to Sunshine Week coordinator Debra Gersh Hernandez at dghernandez@asne.org.
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