Public response to open records. Connie Book — associate dean at Elon and director of the Sunshine Center. Talks about Elon Poll.

Southeastern states Feb 18 – March 3. 37% are aware of sunshine laws. at NC only 26%. NC only above SC in the southeast. Florida number 1 with 55% aware.

is access important 57% and including very important then 90+ agree

Not yet posted on the Elon Poll site. There should be data later.

Interest in local and state 37% say a lot of interest in — higher if interest included

11% of NC feel they have no access to state and local gov

awareness begins at 23 and drops at 65. more education more aware. males more than females. independents most aware. if you made more thand $200K you was as less aware as those under $10K.

Ken G thinks about strategic planning (UNC J-school grad). he talks too. he’s from PR. makes funny chapel hill and jesse helms joke. interprets data. educate at younger level — Ken says. high school teachers and interested publics should be education targets. newspaper and internet sites are stategic for education. value prop is what’s in this for me? to the average NC citizen. for the government educated the gatekeepers. aim for tolerance and not for acceptance.

? about civil liberties and polling. could elon poll and ncpa include civil liberties be included. close call, slam dunk, broad questions. etc. a bit about secrecy and terrorism etc and the need for secret.

? in some states citizens can appeal to the atty general or a compliance officer. in florida they have such a person is that why the awareness is higher. in nc only for public officials. usually public officials won’t ask for a ruling. nc needs some way to provide support if the scope would or could be focused in some way. JimHefner says that the open gov laws in NC aren’t so bad but atty fees and the like are the barriers. Hugh (of law firm??). the coalition will not lobby as part of their mission. but we can talk.

Cathy Packer: some states have an office of public information where you can go to to get access. is this part of the atty general? ny state one is independent of governor and atty general.

training IT department managers need training and support or the requests will fail because hte IT folks are overworked (in reality or in fiction).