密歇根新闻广播 密歇根前首席检察官不喜欢免民选官员

It's Sunshine Week, when Americans celebrate access to public information (and highlight instances where there isn't enough transparency). The Freedom of Information Act became law in Michigan in 1976. But it came with a big loophole:, exempting² the governor and the lieutenant³ governor and their staff.

This meant documents and records could be shielded from the public, except in rare occasions.

Then, in 1986, the law was amended⁴ to make that loophole bigger—exempting the Michigan Legislature as well.

Frank Kelley was Michigan's Attorney General for 37 years (1961-1999), longer than anyone has ever held that position anywhere in the country. In 1986, he was asked to offer an opinion of the changes made to the FOIA law.

"I obviously wanted the Freedom of Information Act to be as broad as possible, but the Legislature, for their own purposes, exempted⁵ themselves," said Kelley. "And I was asked formally … for an opinion on it and of course we got into it. And we found direct quotes in there, and they're in my opinion, that the Legislature did exempt¹ themselves from the Freedom of Information Act, applying it to all other bodies of government except themselves.

"I didn't like it at the time, but I had to issue an opinion because that was the law," added Kelley.

The Flint water crisis has highlighted that Michigan is among just a handful of states that exempts⁶ their elected officials exempt from FOIA. The crisis could lead to massive FOIA reform in the state.

But FOIA aside, Kelley says on his watch the Flint situation could have been avoided.

"Had I been attorney general, the matter would have been handled quite a bit differently," said Kelley. "I don't think we would have ever gotten to the point where Flint would have converted to the water in the first place."

How would things have been different?

"The attorney general would have gotten in the act a lot earlier," said Kelley. "If you look at the staff of the attorney general, even then, we had a public health department. We had a municipal affairs department. We had attorneys who did nothing but look after health and look after cities. They would have been on the ball and would have seen that coming and would have taken steps to avoid it back in those days.

Also joining the show was John Lindstrom, the publisher of the Gongwer News Service, which keeps tabs on everything happening at the capitol.

Lindstrom feels that if lawmakers weren't exempt from FOIA, then our government could be a lot different.

"I think anybody is always a little bit more careful about what they do when they think that someone is watching them," said Lindstrom. "Not wanting to ascribe bad motivations, but clearly when you think you have something of a free pass, in terms of materials getting out to the public, then you clearly feel you have a freer hand in doing certain things … free speech is often more praised than it is practiced to protect it."

Lindstrom points out that the further away we get from the origins of FOIA, the more people became complacent⁷ with the changes that have been made to the law over the years.

"All of these laws, by and large, came into effect after Watergate in the 70s," said Lindstrom. "But as people have gotten away from Watergate, as they've gotten away from the idea of government conspiracies⁸ in large measure, we've seen governments try to make things more convenient for themselves. What we've seen now with the Flint water situation certainly puts a bit emphasis on making changes to FOIA.

"I wouldn't put a big bet on any major changes happening to FOIA any time soon. Not under the current political structure anyway," added Lindstrom.

1 exempt   

adj.免除的；v.使免除；n.免税者，被免除义务者

参考例句：

• These goods are exempt from customs duties.这些货物免征关税。
• He is exempt from punishment about this thing.关于此事对他已免于处分。

2 exempting   

使免除[豁免]( exempt的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• EPA adopted regulations exempting discharges from agricultural activities, with certain exceptions for relatively major pollution sources. 环境保护局采用管制规章，禁止源自农业活动的各种排放，对于一些相关的大型污染源也有例外。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

3 lieutenant   

n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员

参考例句：

• He was promoted to be a lieutenant in the army.他被提升为陆军中尉。
• He prevailed on the lieutenant to send in a short note.他说动那个副官，递上了一张简短的便条进去。

4 Amended   

adj. 修正的 动词amend的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He asked to see the amended version. 他要求看修订本。
• He amended his speech by making some additions and deletions. 他对讲稿作了些增删修改。

5 exempted   

使免除[豁免]( exempt的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• His bad eyesight exempted him from military service. 他因视力不好而免服兵役。
• Her illness exempted her from the examination. 她因病而免试。

6 exempts   

使免除[豁免]( exempt的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• This privilege, however, exempts only predecisional documents. 然而，此特权只免除那些文件在作出决定之前的披露责任。
• Function effectiveness: After then special-purpose, exempts the flushing formula. 功能效用：便后专用，免冲洗配方。

7 complacent   

adj.自满的；自鸣得意的

参考例句：

• We must not become complacent the moment we have some success.我们决不能一见成绩就自满起来。
• She was complacent about her achievements.她对自己的成绩沾沾自喜。

8 conspiracies   

n.阴谋，密谋( conspiracy的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He was still alive and hatching his conspiracies. 他还活着，策划着阴谋诡计。 来自辞典例句
• It appeared that they had engaged in fresh conspiracies from the very moment of their release. 看上去他们刚给释放，立刻开始新一轮的阴谋活动。 来自英汉文学