Elected candidates statewide, congratulations!

When our framers drafted the Montana Constitution, they wisely included measures to increase public participation—namely the right to know. They knew that this right would improve the responsiveness of the government to the people, and that it would increase Montanans’ confidence and satisfaction in the government, too. As Delegate Foster said, “The government will be better for it; the people will be the better because of it.”

It is now a part of your public duty to uphold this tradition of transparency.

We’ve written here about the history of the right to know, why it matters, and what policies affect your access to information. In this column, we’re going back to the basics so that Montanans, including you, are better equipped to exercise the right to know.

As hinted in our last column about the dangers of fees that agencies can impose to restrict your right to know, the government may be emboldened to restrict your right because it knows your only recourse for a denied request is to spend thousands of dollars to sue the agency that denied the request in court.

The Right to Know appears alongside your right to Freedom of Speech, Right to Bear Arms and Right of Suffrage in the Montana Constitution, and it is every bit as important. Under the Right to Know, you have a right to request public information from your state and local governments.