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Peter Barbey, president and CEO of Reading Eagle Company
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The story goes that when the delegates emerged from the first constitutional convention in 1787, anxious citizens waited outside Independence Hall in order to be the first to learn the news of what had been decided behind closed doors.
A woman in the crowd, Eliza Powel of Philadelphia, asked Benjamin Franklin; "Well doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?"
Famously, Franklin responded, "A republic, if you can keep it."
Franklin's admonishment to Powel, "if you can keep it," perhaps sounded cynical, but it reflected his belief that republics live or die based on citizen engagement. With this in mind, at the first session of Congress held two years later, the newly elected representatives passed among our nation's very first laws that the actions of Congress should be published in newspapers.
Newspapers, they decided. They were specific about this. Not posted at the Capitol; not made available at the federal post office, newly formed in that same first session; not sent by courier or mail to those citizens affected.
They understood that government had to treat their business as news to engage the public. They understood that in order for people to be willing to have continuing confidence in their new republic, government had an obligation to effectively and consistently invite all its citizens to monitor and even participate in all of its functions, as opposed to merely creating a public record of those functions for those who may be interested or involved.
The first Congress was intentionally creating a working model for creating citizenship, and purposefully engaging people so that they continued to think as citizens. The legacy of this initial congressional act is the universal public notice laws that exist around the country today, extending to the smallest municipality and school board meeting.
We live in a nation that is now the longest surviving republic in world history, the definition of a republic being a nation that uses democratic methods, but establishes laws in the interest of fairness and to protect those in the minority.
It all has worked very, very well. The essential, positive contributing effect of more than two centuries of adequate and detailed public notices being posted along with community news should not be underestimated.
Unnoticed by many outside politics, an attempt has been made in the state capitol to change that foundational obligation. Senate Bill 733 would allow all of Pennsylvania's governmental entities to post notices on government websites as well as newspapers, and only on those governmental websites if they so choose.
This poorly written bill also could prove to be pernicious as it would allow public officials the opportunity to attempt to influence press coverage by agreeing or not agreeing to publish public notices in local newspapers. In turn, will a newspaper be forced to decide not to accept public notices issued by a local government on which it is reporting if it might be perceived as being influenced?
The fact that the public will perceive this potential for improper influence alone should make any thoughtful politician question the wisdom of this bill.
We ask you, our readers, citizens of this state and this republic, what is the continuing obligation of government to inform? What effort should be made to engage the public?
To the proponents of this bill and the local government lobbyists who are pushing for this drastic change, it seems the answer is not much more than the government has to. They evidently feel no real obligation to push out news of government notices. A posting somewhere on the Internet is enough for them.
Franklin, ever the cynic, I am sure only would nod. It would be ironic if the state where the first Congress was held, where this obligation was conceived and born, was the first state where it actually began to die.
Peter D. Barbey is president and chief executive officer of Reading Eagle Company.
