Perspective: 'Sunshine Law' took five tries

Perspective: 'Sunshine Law' took five tries



By MARGO C. POPE
Opinion editor
Publication Date: 03/15/09


Florida's Government-in-the-Sunshine Law was not an easy bill to pass. But then-Sen. J. Emory 'Red 'Cross, a Gainesville Democrat, stuck with it.

He first introduced the bill while a member of the Florida House of Representatives in 1959.

The landmark law prohibits public officials from doing the public's business in secret.

In a 1998 interview with The St. Augustine Record, Cross recalled:

''I had seen public officials abusing their rights and mistreating taxpayers. I felt something ought to be done about it.''

Cross had the good fortune to be from Alachua County, home of the University of Florida. UF's then-school of journalism and communications had a chapter of Sigma Delta Chi, the professional journalism fraternity. Today, it is known as the Society of Professional Journalists. The journalism school is now a college.

Cross was invited to speak to the journalism chapter about the Legislature.

''The real genesis of the law was a meeting of Sigma Delta Chi, the Society of Professional Journalists,'' said Horance ''Buddy'' Davis Jr., also in a 1998 interview. ''We met in the northernmost (second floor) classroom under the stadium.''

The journalism school was under the west stands of then-Florida Field.

''After the meeting, Hugh Cunningham and I cruised up to him. 'The Quill' had published a model law and we talked about it with him. I had a copy in my office and brought it down to Red and said, 'This is what Florida needs,' '' Davis said. Cunningham also was a UF journalism professor. The Quill was the Sigma Delta Chi magazine.

Cross remembered talking to Davis and Cunningham about finding him a state law on which to pattern Florida's.

''They said they couldn't find a one, there was none in the country,'' Cross said. Davis said Cross followed up on what they gave him from ''Quill'' and introduced his bill in the next Legislature.

''He got laughed out of the House,'' Davis said.

Cross was then elected to the Florida Senate and in 1961, he tried again. He renewed his crusade in 1963, 1965 and 1967.

''I started writing editorials for the Sun in 1962 and wrote about Red's bill,'' Davis said. ''He introduced it every time the Legislature was in session.''

Davis was then moonlighting as editorial writer for The Gainesville Sun while on the UF faculty.

Cross's bill gained momentum and more newspapers, including The Record, wrote editorials in support of it.

In 1967, the Legislature had been reapportioned by federal court order.

That brought change. ''The pine trees and the cows had been voting for years,'' Cross said.

The old Legislature had allowed as many lawmakers from rural counties as it did from urban centers.

''When they started letting the people vote, the law passed,'' he said.

The law was passed first by the House and then the Senate. It became law on July 1, 1967.

Cross' bill became known as the Sunshine Law. It is Chapter 286 of Florida Statutes. The public records law is Chapter 119.

Cross said he never thought of giving up on getting the bill passed.

Davis agreed that the effort was worth it and said he is glad ''this little warm spot in mid-Florida was able to do something this big.''

''When I was writing editorials about it, I used to say, 'open up the meetings for the people, not just the press,''' Davis said.


Editor's note:

Davis won the Pulitzer Prize in 1971 for editorials in the Sun on desegregation. He died in 2004.

Cross later became a judge. He died in Tampa in 2005.


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