Recent revelations affirm that we were right to be concerned about threats to Arkansas’ Freedom of Information Act, one of the strongest in the nation, and to the public’s right to a transparent government, concerns that we expressed last week in this space.
As the Arkansas Times first reported and the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette confirmed, members of the Arkansas State Parks, Recreation & Travel Commission met at the state Capitol with Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders on June 13 without first notifying the public. This is an apparent violation of the FOI Act.
Alexa Henning, the governor’s spokeswoman, denied that a commission meeting took place, saying, “The Governor invited members of SPRTC to the capitol for a Q&A session.” Her statement was belied by an email from Sanders’ scheduler, Erica Freeman, inviting commission members “to attend a meeting with Governor Sanders on Tuesday, June 13, 2023, at 10am in the Governor’s Conference Room.” Freeman said in an email that the “subject matter will be tourism.”
The state’s FOI Act requires public bodies to meet publicly.
The commission oversees policy for the state Department of Parks, Heritage & Tourism, which has experienced significant leadership changes recently, including the unexplained departure earlier this month of Mike Mills as head of the department.
The public doesn’t know exactly what the commission discussed. But it should. It’s our parks department, our commission, our government.
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