Sunshine Week, the annual celebration of open government and the First Amendment, was heralded by Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker with a March 8 proclamation and executive order designed to make state agencies share more information with the public.
Walker, a Republican, ordered agencies to report how many record requests they receive and put frequently requested records online. It follows up on Walker's executive order last year that goes beyond the law by requiring agencies to keep track of record requests, according to Walker's office.
"Governor Walker believes in open government. He believes in government accountability," said Tom Evenson, Walker's deputy communications director.
In Minnesota, DFL Gov. Mark Dayton proclaimed last Sunday "Soccer in Minnesota Day."
Sunshine Week ended Saturday without proclamation from Room 130 in the State Capitol.
That's not surprising, given what Dayton said during an interview last month: "I'm trying to think in six years, whether I've had anybody in the public or especially in the press who's complained to me about the lack of access to data from our office."
Maybe Minnesotans accept that there's little to learn by requesting data from the governor's office, after three administrations that delete e-mails at will, and a law that provides many ways to say no.
Sunshine Week may be hokey, but it does say something about the politics of the issue on either side of the St. Croix River.