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The Washington Coalition for Open Government represents individuals and organizations intent on preserving and protecting Washington's Open Government Laws - Open Records and Open Meetings. Its mission is to represent the public in matters where open government issues are raised, are threatened, or deserves broader exposure.
The Coalition conducts public workshops and forums around the state, involving the public, public officials, and the media in discussing government accessibility as provided in the various statutes that assure such access and accountability from our public agencies.
NEWS ARTICLES 
Accountability via lawsuit doesn't work
Columbian: May 2, 2008
We all agree accountability is vital in our state. There are many proven ways to hold government accountable, such as a robust Open Public Records Act and a strong Open Public Meetings Act, where citizens and the media can observe and participate in improving government. Accountability is also accomplished through a solid personnel system where unacceptable conduct by employees can be disciplined quickly. Lawsuits cannot provide this kind of immediate accountability, particularly since cases can be filed up to three years after an incident and take many more years to resolve after that.
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All invited to interviews with superintendent candidates
News Tribune: April 30, 2008
Coming down on the side of transparency, the Auburn School Board has dropped its plan to invite only a select group of residents into closed-door interviews with candidates for district superintendent. The board has decided to do all preliminary interviews in a pair of sessions that are open to the public, scheduled for next week. The previously handpicked panel of community members also will attend both meetings. Only board members may ask questions.
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Auburn did right by public in rethinking meeting
News Tribune: April 30, 2008
The Auburn School Board made the right choice Monday in deciding to let the law and its community, not the school district’s consultant, guide the search for a new school superintendent. The board dropped a plan to meet behind closed doors with a group of community members appointed to assist the board in evaluating superintendent candidates. While the board’s intent – to get broader input on an important decision – was commendable, its proposed execution was fundamentally flawed.
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County praised on records requests
Bellingham Herald: April 24, 2008
An undercover study by the State Auditor’s Office gave Whatcom County government high marks for responding to public records requests, according to a draft report from the agency. The state report says that Whatcom County had good response times to nearly every records request, has an exemplary Web site for information on such requests, and beats most averages on response times. The state report looked at the 10 largest cities, counties and state agencies in Washington, finding that most entities complied within reasonable time frames and followed most laws. But the report also showed that some agencies often did unnecessary shuffling of public records requests through the bureaucracy.
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Ending Translucent Government: Putting Government Data Online
Mercatus on Policy: April 23, 2008
The federal government makes an overwhelming amount of data publicly available each year. Laws ranging from the Administrative Procedure Act to the Paperwork Reduction Act require these disclosures in the name of transparency and accountability. However, the data is often only nominally available to the public. First, much government data is not available online or even in electronic format. Second, the data that can be found online is often not available in an easily accessible or searchable format. If the government made information public online in standard open formats, the millions of Americans online could help ensure the transparency and accountability that is the reason for making information public in the first place.
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