This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, March 13, 2009 - New Attorney General Chris Koster, a Republican turned Democrat, appears to addressing head-on a matter that consumed Jefferson City for much of last year.
The issue? Missouri's open-records, open-meetings mandate, commonly known as the "Sunshine Law."
Koster's staff announced Friday that he is marking the state's official "Sunshine Week," which begins Sunday, (Mar. 15 – 21) by announcing that he has hired a full-time staffer "dedicated to educating government officials about the Missouri Sunshine Law."
"Public Education Director Tom Durkin will travel the state giving presentations and seminars to state, city and county agencies who request information on Missouri’s open meetings and records law,'' Koster's statement said.
According to Durkin's official bio, he has a unique set of skills. "Durkin previously served as an administrative assistant in the Missouri Senate and as the communications coordinator for the Missouri Supreme Court. In addition to his background in government, he was a professional actor for 17 years and a high school teacher in Burbank,California for 8 years..."
“I’ve created this position as part of my ongoing effort to promote compliance with the Sunshine Law as an essential ingredient for good government,” Koster said in his statement. “Having a Sunshine Law expert dedicated to offering personal presentations will provide government officials with the support they need to be well informed in conducting their business in a transparent way.”
Koster gave credit to his predecessor, now-Gov. Jay Nixon, for recognizing the importance of "educating government officials in complying with the Sunshine Law..."
(Nixon, of course, also spent more than a year doing battle with then-Gov. Matt Blunt over the question of office e-mails, and whether they were being properly preserved and turned over to the public when requested. Each accused the other of failing to comply.)
Koster said he expects Durkin to quadruple the number of Sunshine Law presentations as part of the office's commitment "to bring transparency and fairness to all aspects of government."
According to Koster, "Durkin is available to provide educational materials and make in-person presentations upon request."
As an aside, it'll be interesting to see how Koster's man will be received by the budget-cutting Legislature, where many members admit using private e-mail accounts for state business, under the assumption (wrong) that such e-mails are not subject to the Sunshine Law.
On Thursday, Koster also addressed a session of the Missouri Sunshine Coalition, a group of advocates from academia and news outlets. Political Fix's Tony Messenger offered an account of Koster's promise to help the media get access to government documents deemed public.
