League of Women Voters

The League of Women Voters has information about Sunshine Week (March 12 - 18) on its website. In November 2005, the League launched "Openness in Government: Looking for the Sunshine", a project to make people more aware of the issues concerning government accountability and transparency. As part of its Openness project, the League has selected 14 chapters around the country to host forums during Sunshine Week. Unfortunately, no Massachusetts community was chosen.

The Massachusetts League of Women Voters has an event during Sunshine Week at the State House, but it does not look like it is related to the Openness Project. In fact, I could not find anything on its website referring to the League's Openness project. I guess they do not see it as a very important issue in Massachusetts or maybe the Massachusetts chapter is just too busy with other issues.

Openness in the government, however, should be an important issue for any group like the Massachusetts League of Women Voters that believes in improving voter awareness and participation. What better way to improve voter awareness than to make information about what the government does more freely available. Maybe when the League members meet with Senate President Travaglini and House Speaker DiMasi at the State House on March 15th, they can discuss putting more of the General Court's records online.