Protect Florida’s Sunshine Law

In Sunday’s Miami Herald, we learned about the looming appointment of Florida’s constitutionally required Constitutional Revision Commission, which naturally will be controlled by the overwhelming Republican majority in both houses of Florida’s Legislature and the Governor’s Office.

Citizens like my wife and I worked countless hours collecting the thousands of signatures needed to get the Fair Districts amendment on the ballot, and in spite of the Republican Legislature’s resistance, including all the way to the Florida Supreme Court, it passed with more than 60 percent of the voters’ support.

All of that tireless effort on this and similar citizens’ initiatives will now be lost, as they revert to an era of government in secrecy.

What became of Florida’s Sunshine Law?

Where would we be without the likes of the Miami Herald and reporters like Mary Ellen Klas?

Without a free and honest press, we citizens would be lost in a sea of fake news and tweets.

Now we have little choice but to begin again.

This story was originally published December 14, 2016 at 7:50 PM with the headline "Protect Florida’s Sunshine Law."