Sheer Curtains

Transparency in government is like the multiple layers of unnecessary drapes in a hotel room. You pull one open to let the sunshine and fresh air into the room only to find that there are several more layers of sheer curtains still blocking the sun, the air and your view.

For a state that claims 300 days of sunshine every year, it's amazing that the sun only shines on the Roundhouse in Santa Fe a few days of those 300. This creates an exclusive setting for our state government officials to represent the people of New Mexico. The message is loud and clear: we, the voters, aren't welcome there. Oh, we can stop by and say hello once every few years, and make donations as often as possible, but for the most part we don't have and aren't invited to have real access to what's going on in the Roundhouse.

New Mexico is fighting a battle that can be won, if the right architect and interior decorator are involved. Anyone knows that the quality of the design can make all the difference in outcomes.

We see this in today's residential construction design with the popular open floor plan where the great room becomes the center of the home, typically open to a large eat-in kitchen and adjacent to an entertainment patio. This arrangement of space encourages open communication, involvement of all to the exclusion of none, and positive behavior. It's an inclusive setting.

In a similar effort to bring more openness in communication, parents are constantly advised to keep the personal computer in the family room and to not allow their children to sequester themselves away behind closed doors with the lights dimmed. The same thing can be said for the telephone, although cell phones have created unlimited opportunities for conversations that are no longer monitored automatically simply because the home phone plugs in at the center of the house.

Although most parents are savvy enough to do some quiet monitoring of URL's, email and telephone numbers that have been called or visited, they are also more comfortable with the situation simply because whatever is going on isn't happening behind closed doors and out of sight. More open communication is being practiced in many American homes today than was in the past. Parents are talking to their children, and even more impressive is the fact that children are talking to their parents. And because of these trends, when privacy is needed it's often given without concern. It's amazing what trust and communication can do.

Government could learn from the communication, design and open door policies of homes and families. There are always times when privacy is important and necessary, both in homes and government, but those should be the exception not the rule. The crucial question now is who will join the design team? Who is already elected and who will we elect to fling the drapes open and move the transparency issue into the sunlight?

And I understand the necessity of privacy when dealing with negotiations, personnel, matters of national safety and security, litigation and even some sensitive financial issues, but with rare exception have I ever recognized a need for any other behind-closed-door discussions unless there was something subversive, dishonest or downright mean or illegal going on.

It would be unfair to not acknowledge that we have some eager and ethical legislators in New Mexico - our current design team - who encourage input and participation from New Mexico's voters. New Mexico Representative Janice Arnold-Jones is one of them; she has already flung the curtains open. Kudos to the courageous lady! She gets it, and she wants all of us to get the information we should have too.

These transparency-supporting legislators are working to improve the public's access to the comings and goings and votes and comments in our state capitol. More kudos to them and more power too, because these are the folks who will open the doors and windows of the Roundhouse. it's Historically, transparency, open arms and open doors may not have been the norm in Santa Fe, but moving forward it's going to get better - it has to. New Mexicans are watching and waiting.

Transparency in government; now wouldn't that be a breath of fresh air?

Let the sun shine in!