March 17 2010 at 07:57 AM

League of Women Voters of Minnesota issues challenge: attend one public meeting in next 30 days

Filed in: Open Government | News | Minnesota
Headline Image

As part of their Sunshine Week campaign to promote open government, the League of Women Voters of Minnesota has challenged residents of the state to in the next 30 days attend one public meeting. “Attend a hearing, be it a meeting of a park board, a city council or a legislative committee, and see what they are talking about,” writes Laura Fredrick Wang on the LWV Minnesota’s State of Democracy Minnesota blog. 

LWV Minnesota believes that one of the best ways to shine some light into government meetings is to be present at those meetings. Local chapters of group in Minnesota sponsor Observer Corps. Observers attend meetings of government bodies, take notes about what happens, and report back to the community. Observers learn about not just the issue being discussed, but the process through which debate and decision-making took place.

This year, according to the post, is the first that LWV Minnesota has had Observers at the State Capitol observing hearings of legislative committees. The feedback from the inaugural corps of legislative observers has been overwhelmingly positive about the experience. Not only have they learned a lot about the issues, but they have found that advocates, witnesses, and even many of the legislators really appreciate their presence in the hearings.

Check out the State of Democracy Minnesota blog for regular open government updates throughout Sunshine Week. Recent posts include:

Sunshine Week is a national initiative to open a dialogue about the importance of open government and freedom of information.  Participants include print, broadcast and online news media, civic groups, libraries, nonprofits, schools and others interested in the public’s right to know. Learn more about the LWV of Minnesota partnership with the Minnesota News Council and Minnesota Coaltion on Government Information.