Conclusion

Supporting Transparency and Accountability in Colorado

The Colorado open records laws are a potentially powerful tool for ensuring a transparent, responsive, and competent government. The effectiveness of this tool, however, is based largely on whether and how it is wielded by the public. We encourage you to use the open records acts frequently and vigorously, to disseminate the information you obtain, and to object when government agencies attempt to wrongfully thwart your access to public records. We hope that this guide will enable and empower you to use Colorado open records law to this end.

The Colorado open records laws are not, however, just a means to an end. The laws are also representative of a larger belief that transparency is fundamental to our system of government. Access to government records provides the public with the information they need to participate in the democratic process and to hold their public officials accountable. Unfortunately, like many of our most fundamental rights, the right to access public information is constantly under attack on a variety of fronts. Government agencies wrongfully withhold records in order to avoid disclosing information that reveals embarrassing government conduct, waste, abuse, or fraud. Government agencies and private actors that benefit more from secrecy and misinformation than from frank and transparent public decision‐making consistently push for the passage of new laws that make more and more records confidential and inaccessible to the public. Court decisions restrict access through narrow interpretations of the law.

Restrictions on easy and open access to public records have only increased in the wake of the September 11th attacks. In the post‐WWII era, government officials justified intense government secrecy by invoking “national security” and “public safety” as the basis for withholding records from the public. As information slowly leaked out, however, the public discovered that the purported rationales for excessive government secrecy were often just a pretext for covering up public officials’ violations of the Constitution, often for reasons that did little to improve safety or national security. After September 11th, similar arguments have been advanced by government officials to conceal all manner of public records. Courts have sometimes been too ready to accept those arguments without putting the government to its heavy burden to justify such secrecy. Then, as now, records slowly being pried loose suggest that government secrecy often has much to do with avoiding democratic decision‐making and oversight, and that the public benefit of releasing these records would far outweigh any alleged impact on “national security.”

It is now more important than ever that all people in Colorado use and defend Colorado’s open records laws. The most direct way you can help fulfill the promise of our open records laws is by using them to request public information on the issues that are important to you. If you also believe in defending and expanding public’s right to access information, you might also consider helping in one or more of the following ways:

• Give a copy of this guide to someone you know. • After you make your first records request, help someone else you know file a public records request.
• If you gain experience making open records requests, offer to volunteer for a group or organization who could utilize your skills.
• Publish the public records you receive on your own website or through the media.
• Commit personal or organizational resources toward holding agencies legally accountable when they refuse to disclose public records.
• Work locally in county and city governments to pass resolutions or ordinances that ensure a maximum amount of access to local records, including criminal justice records.
• Contact your elected state representative and make your voice heard on any proposed state legislation that would restrict or expand access to public records.
• Donate money or time to organizations like the ACLU that work in the courts, the legislature and in our communities to protect and expand the public’s right to access information. These efforts—like the publication of this guide for free—are not undertaken cheaply. The ACLU counts entirely on membership and donations in order to fund our work. More information on becoming a member of the ACLU of Colorado can be found on our website: http://www.aclu‐co.org/support/membership.htm.