O'Bannon honored for open government

INDIANAPOLIS -- Indiana's largest press association bestowed its highest accolade on the late Gov. Frank O'Bannon Friday, remembering him for his support of open government.\nThe Hoosier State Press Association gave its Indiana Newspapers Publishers' First Freedom Award posthumously to O'Bannon, who died in September after suffering a stroke.\nFormer first lady Judy O'Bannon accepted the award at a luncheon during the annual meeting of the group, composed of publishers from daily and weekly newspapers throughout the state.\nShe said her husband developed his convictions for open government as publisher of a weekly newspaper, The Corydon Democrat, in southern Indiana. O'Bannon owned the paper before and during his 33 years in government service.\n"He realized that it's a bonding element of a community, that if people don't have free access to information, they can't participate," she said.\nThe HSPA also announced the start of a special award named for the governor -- the Frank O'Bannon Sunshine Award -- to recognize citizens and government officials for their work in keeping government open to the public. The first award will be given at next year's conference.\n"Throughout his career, Governor Frank O'Bannon was a strong advocate for open government," said HSPA President Robert Allman, the publisher of weeklies in Albion, Churubusco and Huntertown, Ind.\nAmong his work in open-government efforts, O'Bannon created the Office of the Public Access Counselor in 1998 after a group of newspapers detailed abuse of the state's Public Records Act. The office fields inquiries and complaints involving access to public records and meetings and recommends solutions.\nAnne Mullin O'Connor, the first public access counselor who held the job until last year, said other states struggling with public access issues have sought advice on how to establish similar offices. She said the key to Indiana's success was the extraordinary support from the governor.\n"No other state had a Frank O'Bannon," she said.\nHSPA General Counsel Stephen Key remembered O'Bannon especially for his opposition to a bill, passed by the Legislature in 2001, that would have exempted lawmakers from the state's open-records law.\nKey said O'Bannon could have played it politically safe by letting the bill become law without his signature. Instead, O'Bannon vetoed the bill, setting the stage for confrontation with legislative leaders. O'Bannon said the bill was "a step backward" in efforts to keep legislative matters open to the public.\nA year later, the House sustained the veto after many legislators reversed their positions.\nKey said the veto was "an example of personal courage and moral conviction that I'll always remember"