[iwar] [fc:Fear.drives.Senate's.rush.to.secrecy]

From: Fred Cohen (fc@all.net)
Date: 2001-10-24 21:39:26
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Date: Wed, 24 Oct 2001 21:39:26 -0700 (PDT)
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[FC - Is it fear of terror - or fear of Florida's "Sunshine laws"]

Fear drives Senate's rush to secrecy

By Mark Silva | Sentinel Political Editor

TALLAHASSEE -- The Florida Senate, gripped by the fear of terrorism, is
set to launch a barrage of legislation and rules that would allow
lawmakers to meet and cut deals in secret. 

All testimony, correspondence, staff reports and even senators' votes on
anti-terrorism bills would be secret. 

The bid to remove protections guaranteed for decades by the state's
landmark "government in the sunshine" law gets under way today. 

The Senate Rules Committee is expected to approve giving the Senate
president the power to close any discussions of "possible acts of
espionage, sabotage, attack and other acts of terrorism."

The full Senate could follow suit Thursday.  Leaders insist they will
only impose secrecy in "a perfect storm" of terrorist threats. 

For now, a more cautious House is keeping the brakes on bills that
mirror the Senate's efforts, including enabling state police to seal
public records in pursuit of terrorism. 

House Speaker Tom Feeney insists that a two-week special session is no
place to start closing records and meetings. 

"I haven't been convinced it is an immediate pressing problem," Feeney
said, adding that he would be open to discussing the ideas at next
year's regular session. 

"I would want to have plenty of healthy debate; I'd want to be very
careful in how we change our open meeting rules," Feeney, R-Oviedo,
said. 

All this is a measure of the post-Sept.  11 paranoia in Florida's
Capitol, where metal detectors greet visitors at doors that once opened
freely and armed guards stand sentry for the governor. 

"Scary thing, and not taken lightly," Senate Majority Leader Jim King,
R-Jacksonville, said of the rules ready for open debate today.  "I think
it's pretty well agreed to that the potential problems we face warrant
moves that we never otherwise would have taken.  .  .  . 

"Sometimes, you have to ease civil liberties to protect the civil
population."

A Senate committee this week endorsed a dozen security-driven bills
enabling the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to seal otherwise
public records in terrorist-related investigations for one week, and
judges to seal them for another two weeks, plus other new exemptions to
the public-records law. 

"There's a paranoia that's clearly obvious when you take all of these
proposals and put them together," said Barbara Petersen, executive
director of the First Amendment Foundation, which watches
open-government issues.  The Senate's rush to secrecy is not only
unconstitutional, she said: "It creates a sense of fear.  What is it
they don't want us to know?"

Supporters of Florida's nationally recognized laws for open government
have warned against allowing an atmosphere of terrorist-instilled fear
to restrict liberties long held dear. 

"Everywhere you go, especially when you talk to open-records advocates
in other states, they always look at Florida as pretty much the promised
land," said Mark Fitzgerald, editor at large at Editor &amp; Publisher,
a press trade journal.  While the Senate can enact its own rules for
meetings, it takes the Senate and House to approve any legislation for
added police powers and new exemptions to the public-records law. 

Feeney has taken a staunch libertarian stand and plans to allow debate
Monday on only a few uncontroversial bills, which have passed approval
of press advocates, such as one clarifying an existing public-records
exemption for state security plans and threat assessments. 

Another special session on security may be needed before the regular
2002 session of the Legislature convenes in late January, Feeney told
House leaders in his office Tuesday. 

There appears to be widespread agreement within the Senate, however. 

"At the minute, it probably makes sense," Senate Democratic Leader Tom
Rossin, D-West Palm Beach, said.  "You certainly don't want to have
critical information disseminated that would harm an investigation," he
said, noting that the meeting-closing rules are "limited to terrorism."

Senate Rules Chairman Tom Lee, R-Brandon, called the new rule "very
narrowly drawn."

"No president of the Senate would abuse this," Lee said.  But something
short of crisis could close a meeting, committee member Sen.  Steve
Geller, D-Hallandale Beach, said.  For example, testimony in front of
the Senate's select committee on security about vulnerabilities at a
public facility and how much it will cost to fix them could be kept
secret. 

Senators say the votes and records of these meetings also must be kept
secret to prevent their subject from becoming known to potential
terrorists. 

"To the extent that there are matters of national and/or state security,
I think it may be appropriate to meet in secret," Geller said.  "We've
had a long record of openness in this country, but we've had a wake-up
call."

Florida's Constitution, in an amendment overwhelmingly approved by
voters, requires that all meetings of more than two legislators in which
pending legislation is discussed are open to the public. 

The Constitution also allows the House and Senate to enact its own
rules.  And it requires the full Legislature to approve any new
exemptions to public records, as a matter of law. 

The proposed Senate rule would add "discretion" for the president to
close meetings on prevention of terrorism, and would make all records,
remarks and votes cast in closed meetings confidential. 

"It is the fox guarding the hen house," Petersen said, calling the
meeting and record closures unconstitutional. 

Steve Kahn, general counsel for the Senate, maintains the changes are
constitutional. 

"It is clearly within the scope of the Legislature's authority," Kahn
said.  "It's an extrapolation of the authority the people gave to the
Legislature to govern its meetings and records."

This includes authority for "closing meetings and records," Kahn said. 

Constitutional or not, some senators call it unwise. 

"I'm having a hard time with it," Sen.  Daryl Jones, D-Miami, said,
"because of the tradition of open government."

But leaders said Florida's traditions -- and Americans' views on civil
liberties -- are confronting a new era. 

"This is the first time I've ever had my suitcase opened, dirty clothes
and all," said King, the Senate majority leader.  "Normally, I'd have
gotten incensed.  Now it's part of the job.  It's a whole new world, and
that which we took so much for granted in America, much of it is going
to have to change."

Tallahassee bureau chief John Kennedy contributed to this report.  Mark
Silva can be reached at 407-420-5034 or msilva@orlandosentinel.com. 

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