In recognition of Sunshine Week, the Sacramento Bee’s Marjie Lundstrom has identified seven Californians who doggedly fight for open government.
Heroes or kooks, she says, they share a common quality: They don’t take no for an answer in their persistent efforts to pry open government for all to see.
Their drive for accountability has prompted new law and landed some of them in legal trouble. Never deterred, they keep pressing, in several cases fighting for local Sunshine ordinances to reduce the roadblocks.
Sunshine Week, a national initiative to promote openness in government, runs from March 13-19 this year. It is headed by the American Society of News Editors, with major funding from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.