NASHVILLE — Heather Willis Neals has been on the job protecting your right to governmental meetings and public records for just a few months, starting with her appointment as Indiana’s public access counselor effective July 1.

So far she’s written 102 formal opinions, she told editors gathered Wednesday at the Abe Martin Lodge in Brown County State Park for the fall meeting of the Indiana Associated Press Managing Editors.

She thinks more Hoosiers are more aware of their rights to open government and public records. Public records seem to be raising the most problem. They’re drawing the most complaints or questions, anyway, accounting for 85 percent of formal opinions she’s written.

Many folks in government complained when the public access counselor’s office was created that it was simply an overreaction by the news media to a reporting project that examined compliance with the state’s public access and records laws. Only the media would use it, they cried.

That has never been the case.

Neal said Wednesday that 12 of the 102 formal opinions stemmed from news media inquiries and two resulted from contacts from public officials. The rest were from the general public. That’s been the case since the counselor’s inception, although most often news media requests have lagged behind even those filed by public officials.

Neal added she’s been encouraged that public officials often refer to her office’s public access handbook when contacting her office.

“I believe elected officials are trying to do what’s right, they just don’t always know,” she said.

Questioned about putting some teeth in the public access laws, Neal said she agrees some kind of penalty would be helpful, but she had no stance on civil versus criminal.

“I feel really silly every day when asked about the consequences of violations,” she said. “I think it’s something to consider. Why have these laws if you don’t have a punishment for violating them?”

And Neal’s opinions on public access complaints are just that — opinions with no binding authority.

The Hoosier State Press Association tried to lobby lawmakers for penalties in the 2007 session of the Indiana General Assembly, but the newspaper group doesn’t expect to make that an issue in the 2008 session, its attorney, Steve Key, told editors Wednesday.

But it’s something we Hoosiers should keep pushing. Public access — to government meeting and records — is an important issue for all of us.

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