DAVENPORT, Wash. – Lincoln County on Tuesday became the first jurisdiction in Washington to put transparency and government accountability above the desires of special interests by approving a resolution stating that contract negotiations between the county and the unions representing public employees must be open to public scrutiny.

In a prepared statement, the county commissioners explained:

“Lincoln County has been facing difficult financial times and it is becoming increasingly difficult to provide just the basic level of service. It is incumbent upon us now, more than ever, to make sure that the taxpayers as well as employees know how they are being represented during collective bargaining negotiations, which are among the most expensive contracts negotiated by the county.”

Importantly, the action did not create a new county ordinance or modify an existing one. Under the current Washington Public Meetings Act, collective bargaining negotiations can be conducted in public or private.

“In every other Washington county, and at the state level, the unions have bullied the jurisdiction to keep meetings closed because they’re afraid of what the public would see if they had that opporunity,” said Matthew Hayward, outreach coordinator for the Olympia-based Freedom Foundation, which has been working with the Lincoln County commissioners.

 “The resolution states that Lincoln County intends to follow the law,” he said. “And that’s important because it serves notice to the unions that the residents of this community aren’t satisfied with business as usual.

They have a right to see how their elected representatives conduct the people’s business, and this simply affirms their intention to exercise that right.”

The Lincoln County resolution reads:

“From this day forward, Lincoln County shall conduct all collective bargaining contract negotiations in a manner that is open to the public … (and) Lincoln County shall provide public notice of all collective bargaining negotiations in accordance with the Open Public Meetings Act.”

In the public sector, Hayward noted, it’s extremely common for collective bargaining negotiations to be conducted between union leaders and politicians whose campaigns the unions have largely underwritten.

“You’ve essentially got a union employee on both sides of the bargaining table,” he said. “I think it’s extremely important for the public to see who their elected representatives are actually working for.”

It’s equally important, he said, for union members to watch their leaders at work if they’re to judge whether the dues money being taken from their checks is being wasted. None of which is possible when those meetings are held in secret.

The official statement from the commissioners continues:

“We believe that as elected officials, we should not get to decide what the public should or should not know about how their tax money is spent … We are appealing to the public (Proposition 1, 3/10s of 1 percent sales tax increase for public safety) and asking them to open their wallets and give us more of their hard-earned money because the costs of providing those essential services grow at a faster rate than the revenues, creating a structural gap. By asking the public for more money, it is imperative that this board to make every attempt to be transparent, as to maintain the highest level of trust with the people of Lincoln County.”

There are strictly enforced rules in Washington governing contact between elected officials to ensure the public can observe the process whenever decisions are made and action taken. Collective bargaining negotiations are the only exception to that rule.

“The default position of every city, county and state in the nation should be transparency, not secrecy,” said Freedom Foundation CEO Tom McCabe. “In too many places, it’s just the opposite.

“Government accountability is critical to a free society,” he said, “and we applaud Lincoln County for taking this courageous stand in the face of the union opposition sure to follow. We encourage other Washington counties – and the state itself – to follow its lead.”