Galileo
One of the more significant courtroom fights in New Mexico for open government and public records was decided in recent days with a victory for openness and a slam against secrecy in City Hall.
The city of Farmington dropped its threatened appeal to the state Supreme Court and released documents sought two years ago by The Daily Times. The newspaper in 2007 made a routine request for copies of all applications for the then-vacant position of city manager, which is the city's most powerful administrative position.
The mayor and city council, however, voted 3-2 not to release those applications and instead to wage a legal battle challenging the state law calling them public record and making them available to public inspection.
Instead, it was deemed more important to protect the privacy of the applicants for such a high-profile, tax-funded position than to allow transparency into the wheelings and dealings behind selecting a new top administrator. Keep in mind, this hire is someone who would supervise the expenditure of millions of dollars and the hiring and firing of all top city staffing positions, from police and fire to recreation and utilities.
A district court judge ruled the city broke the law in trying to keep its secrets. The city appealed.
An appeals court ruled the city broke the law in trying to keep its secrets. The city considered
Finally, two years later and at a cost of around $140,000 that likely will fall on the city's lap to pay, Farmington's city government is complying with state law.
The applications were released late May.
It is more than ironic that the release came at the same time the city was embroiled in another lawsuit, one involving the police shooting of a Navajo man, and came with the connection that exists between these two different but equally insightful cases.
The irony begs the question:
What cost must we continue to pay because of ignorance and arrogance?
***
Thinking the Daily Times lawsuit against the city is about nothing but access to city records is as wrong as thinking the lawsuit against the city in the shooting death is about nothing but the killing of a Navajo man.
Both cases represent something so much more important, and sadly, it is not just City Hall that fails to grasp what is at stake.
Clint John was no hero. He was, by his own thick criminal record and by the beating he gave his girlfriend in the moments leading to his death, a bad individual at times.
Farmington Police Officer Shawn Scott was the first to answer the call when witnesses reported John assaulting his girlfriend in a store parking lot on June 10, 2006.
A scuffle of some sort broke out, John took away Scott's police baton, and Scott shot John four times, killing him with the final shot on target to the head.
Scott very well may be justified for defending himself and killing John. John's family, however, felt the officer overreacted, and the Navajo Nation plunked down $300,000 to help take the case to court in a civil lawsuit played out in a federal courtroom in Albuquerque.
Simply put, the summer of 2006 was one of the more racially charged, violent and tense summers in the American Indian border town of Farmington since the iconic civil rights battles of the early 1970s.
Mistrust of local government played a major, major factor in this tension, and frankly, the city has done much too little to change its perception in the years since.
The Navajo Nation government has done no better.
***
Case after case added up in that tough summer of 2006. The shooting death of John was the catalyst of major protests, threats and rumors.
Farmington loves a parade. It has parades for almost everything. If Farmer's Almanac could predict the best days for trout fishing in the San Juan River, Farmington would hold a parade for it.
Yet, the lively Fourth of July parade that summer almost was canceled because of the tensions. It was allowed, but only after marshaled with snipers on the roofs, officers dressed in SWAT gear on the street corners, a helicopter in the air and the feel that a small army was in place.
Right or wrong for doing that, the parade proceeded without interruption. Nevertheless, the police presence was yet another reminder of how bad things had gotten.
The New York Times took notice. It was among various other so-called national media entities that parachuted into Farmington for a story on the racial tensions. But all these media did was provide a platform for opportunists and sensationalism. Little was done to strike daggers into the heart of the problems.
City officials bragged about how much better federal civil rights observers found Farmington compared to the olden days.
Navajo officials such as the then-chapter president in Shiprock jumped on their soap boxes in the name of justice, only to have such boxes kicked out from under them later by their own people for things such as taking money on the side before important votes were made on complex issues.
Hypocrisy ruled.
Farmington city proper was anything but, and Navajo leadership was an oxymoron.
***
The Daily Times was no innocent bystander.
Among the first things a new staff did in that summer of 2006 was look in a mirror. We developed a plan that called for less sensationalism in headlines and gotcha journalism and we set the mark for balanced reporting, meaning stories that hit hard in the gut, and stories that also lifted people up and talked about their goodness.
We investigated the Farmington police and city actions, and we investigated the Navajo Nation's lack of accountability.
We also found heroes amid the ranks of both sides in this cultural divide, which exists in many American Indian border towns.
The city did take measures to improve. It changed police chiefs. It heard a call for more and better in-car video cameras to record police actions. It gave lip service, but little more, to a call for a civil rights commission.
Ditto the Navajo Nation. It said it was willing to meet Farmington officials more than half way in working on solutions, but never did the halfway mark get drawn in the sand. It started its own race relations commission, and appointed to lead it a man known for taking "consulting fees" on projects he influenced and known for his personal agenda in being a racially charged activist himself.
Bottom line: Neither did very much to gain credibility in their sincerity to make things better between the Navajo and Anglo.
A lack of trust continued to rule within the tribal council and within City Hall.
The Daily Times, after realizing it too was a part of the problem, began its effort toward solutions by adopting its new goals for more balanced reporting and by committing to a more vocal civic leadership role in the call for change.
We demanded acceptance of cultural diversity and more, we called for revelry of it as a cherished treasure that many outsiders who love to visit here already understood and valued.
When City Hall failed to understand the dark shadows of mistrust it had cast upon itself, it made matters worse when it chose to intentionally break state law regarding public record on the selection of its next city manager. That left the public to wonder, would it be a good ole boy hired? Would it be an anti-Navajo, anti-Hispanic, anti-open government advocate?
Farmington City Hall needed openness and transparency more than at any time in its history.
So, it was under this backdrop, and not because we simply were curious about the applicants for a job, that The Daily Times filed a lawsuit against the city in the spring of 2007, almost one year after Clint John was shot to death and the Fourth of July parade rumored canceled.
There was no trust in City Hall.
Keeping secrets did nothing but confirm the ignorance and arrogance that reigned.
***
Wednesday marks the three-year anniversary of Clint John's death.
Almost two years ago, The Daily Times vs. the city of Farmington became a court battle for transparent government.
What has changed since then?
Fortunately, the people.
Racism continues to exist despite the apathy and the choice of naysayers who deny it and claim articles such as this one only bring up past wounds that should be left to heal on their own.
The problem is, they don't heal on their own.
Racism will exist until the end of time. That is because the history of man in documents such as the Bible show that it has existed since the beginning of time.
Making our world a better place, however, begins at home. Festivals, jobs, sports and other positive interaction has led to many improved relationships between the Navajo and Anglo and various other culturally diverse people.
Victories such as the court battle over public access also have helped. Since the court case began, City Hall has reversed course. The city manager it hired in secret two years ago lasted only a few short months, and when the next hire was made, it was done so in open. Now, the city is releasing such information as a matter of policy, and with the move is a small but growing measure of newfound trust.
In-car cameras are in police cars. A new police chief is at the helm. Police-sponsored community activities often are in the headlines instead of just the daily crime reports.
Still lacking, however, is the motivated effort by the city and the Navajo Nation to put real effort into their race relations commissions. If there is a real call to make the summer of 2009 another stepping stone away from that troublesome summer of 2006, then this effort could be the foundation for it.
One thing is certain. Keeping secrets means acting in the dark, and darkness is the den of mistrust and misdeeds.
Open government and transparency is the critical pillar of democracy that serves as a lighthouse for freedom.
Troy Turner is the editor of The Daily Times. He can be contacted at P.O. Box 450, Farmington, N.M. 87499; or at tturner@daily-times.com.
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