Some secrets are necessary in life. You wait until your kids figure out the Tooth Fairy for themselves. You keep the nuclear launch codes hidden. We get it. But that doesn't mean all secrets are automatically justified or serve a good purpose, especially where state government is concerned.
Right now our lawmakers are considering a bill that would hide a little more information from the public. It's called Senate Bill 464, and it would exempt almost all documents related to the state's execution drugs from public records requests. That's no good.
If the government representing We the People is going to execute a criminal, the public has the right to know everything about it. With a Freedom of Information Act request, any Arkansan, press or not, should be able to learn everything about the killing, from the drugs involved to the manufacturer of the needles. When the government kills somebody, nothing about the process should be shrouded in secrecy.
And when the senator who sponsors the bill refuses to meet with the Arkansas Freedom of Information Task Force because "time is too valuable right now," that's a problem, too.
In this state Regnat populus, or should. And the people rule best when we're informed.
Editorial on 03/14/2019