March 11-17 is National Sunshine Week. For the first time, the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council is "giving awards in recognition of people and events that shaped the fortunes of open government in Wisconsin in 2006 . . . "I'm honored to report that the Five Rivers Five have earned a COPEE (Citizen Openness Advocate of the Year) Award! According to WFOIC President Bill Lueders:
Citizen Openness Advocates of the Year (the "Copee"): The Five Rivers Five. This ad hoc group tried to crash a February 2006 closed meeting between Oshkosh city officials and a developer, saying it violated the state's Open Meetings Law. The five - Tony Palmeri, Pat Gentile, Gary Jepson, Dan Rylance and Rachel Aiken - were turned away. But the Attorney General's Office later deemed that a portion of the meeting was improperly closed. Credit goes also to city Councilor Paul Esslinger, who objected to the meeting, and Cheryl Hentz, who helped draft a complaint to the AG's office.
Oshkosh Northwestern coverage of the awards can be found here.
I started to write a congratulations note, and then I started to wonder whether this is the kind of thing where congratulations are in order.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad that you and the others raised this issue, but wouldn't it be a whole lot better if citizens didn't have to fight for their rights like this?
In any case, it's well deserved recognition for your efforts.