Of, by and for whom?

I spent the better portion of the life allotted to me this week talking with government officials, civic leaders and business people in an attempt to learn more about the how’s and why’s of important decisions facing Terrebonne Parish concerning economic development.

The story was about Terrebonne Parish President Michel Claudet’s decision to de-fund the Terrebonne Economic Development Authority, what that potentially means to people living and working here, and what some of the reasons for doing so might be.

I did the best I could.

The product of all this is in the paper and you can figure out if we did a good job or not.

I can tell you the best possible job was done for a story where only one side would talk on the record, and during the reporting of which some individuals would not answer calls at all or return them.

The important truth that emerges is, for me, a lesson in power distribution. It is not for me to decide whether placing economic development under parish government is a good thing, whether TEDA director Steve Vassallo’s resignation should elicit a “good riddance” or a flood of tears.

Those are all elements of the story, but are questions for readers to decide on the merits.

Michel Claudet says he doesn’t want to discuss those merits in the media, but wants to do so in the controlled and rarified atmosphere of the parish council chamber. Leaders in the business community say they don’t want to discuss any of this on the record. They fear they will offend. They fear they will be misunderstood.

Well somebody knew about this proposal for a while because it sure looks like a lot of work went into it. There is clear evidence that members of the parish council – at least a few of them – have had some idea about it. But nobody wants to be quoted.

Thankfully, most were willing to have background discussions and as reporters will do when given no other choice, I opted to get what information I could even if it meant buying into a conspiracy of silence. Better to get the information out there to some degree.

But I don’t want people taking my word for what is believed, perceived or said. I’d rather have a quote to hang it on. For accuracy, as well as clarity and credibility. I am ethically bound, however, to the conditions under which I accepted what crumbs were offered.

The point I am trying to make is that knowledge is indeed power. And in this situation, as in others involving our local government, a lot of knowledge is not shared with the people most affected by it – the people of Terrebonne Parish – until somebody decides it is safe for that to happen. Safe for themselves, safe for their concept, safe for the ideas to be discussed in a way where the conversation can be most controlled.

That may be how a corporation operates. But it is not how the business of the people should be conducted. And it is not a matter of laws requiring certain things be done, but the culture under which a given local government operates. You can stick to the letter of open meetings laws and open records laws but still be wrong, because you are retaining information and therefore power.

There are places I have worked where government officials generally – if asked – will disclose their future plans for how things might be done, how they may change the laws, how they might streamline procedures. If your ideas are that good, I would think you might wish people to know. If your case is that strong, it should withstand the scrutiny.

If your belief is that you know better – that your experience and wisdom trump the desires of the people – you are not being a public servant but a bureaucratic patrician. You are treating the people whose sweat and dollars make this parish work like indentured servants. The real work doesn’t get done in the boardroom. It gets done on the docks and in the welding shops and in all the places where men and women get calloused hands and make themselves dead tired in return for the occasional joy of a crawfish boil or a beer, or maybe a win by the Saints.

The people deserve the power – and therefore the knowledge of how their money is being spent – not on a requirement of the law or the turn of a process but on demand. And we here at this newspaper and others, we are the ones who ask on their behalf.

Snicker if you must. But you know, all of you, the words here ring true. Start chasing after openness in local government’s culture as much as you chase after dollars, people. And to the working people, the voters, take a hint.

The ones who speak openly in government, the ones who are not afraid to have their names next to their thoughts and actions upon your demand, look at them really hard.

Realize that you have the power in your hands to have them represent and serve you or not, and know that you need to use it. Only then, by a resolve among the governors and a resolve of the governed, can power truly be in the hands of the people as it is supposed to be.

Government of, by and for the people doesn’t happen in the dark. It only happens in the light. And we need a lot more sunshine in Terrebonne Parish.