Three-legged stool can't stand on only two
By David T. Thompson

Mymomused to have a small, three-leggedwooden stool. I don't remember the stool being used for any reason, just something to set a newspaper ormagazine on for aminute.

It was small and thus not sturdy enough to hold anything of weight.

But no matter if it was strong and sturdy, the three-legged stoolwas no good if something happened to one of the legs. It couldn't stand on just two.

You're probably alreadywonderingwhat a three-legged stool has to dowith the newspaper business.

Open government is a three-legged stool. It takes openmeetings. It takes open records.

It takes public notices.

Anyof the threebeingabsentyoudon't really haveopengovernment.

Iwouldwager that the news side of newspapers thinks all of government can be "open" if just itsmeetings and records are kept public.And I would wager an equal amount that the advertising/ business side would argue without public notices, government really can't be open.

Like the old Certs breathmint ad, "Stop.You're both right."

It takes all three.Together. If one of the three ismissing, any one of the three, open government is off-balance.

Open meetings - much can go on behind closed doors and much does. The law gives public agencies the right to enter into closed meetings under certain conditions. The law limits the presence of people at thosemeetings and nothing can be finalized. Any final actionmust be done in public.

Openmeetings also give the citizens the right to speak on a particular subject.Much like lobbying in some respect but the comments play an important part of a public agency's decisions onmost items.

Open records - much like open meetings, most records are open. Those records can be closed to the public under certain conditions but the records are important for a variety of reasons.

Often, government records will reveal what has happened behind the scenes,with agencies trying to restrict knowledge of what has happened in certain situations.Maybe it's a financial settlement with a fired public agency employee. Maybe it's what happened in a court proceeding. Maybe it's just simple communications between agencies.

Open records are much more than that, I know, but open records are an important part of that three-legged stool.

Public notices - these probably get overlooked when compared to open meetings and open records. Newspaper editorial departments won't understand the reason for them, why government agencies should pay to have information published. Newspaper ad departments will favor this one over openmeetings and open records.Those are good butwith public notices certain information has to be published and that information could be very revealing.

On their own, each is important and each plays a role in open government - government of the people, for the people and by the people. True open government can only be open with the three-legged stool in perfect balance.

David T. Thompson is executive director of the Kentucky PressAssociation, Frankfort,Ky.KPAis the trade association for the state's newspapers.