In an editorial today, the State Journal-Register writes that Attorney General Lisa Madigan "sent a strong signal" with her selection of Cara Smith (currently her deputy chief of staff) as the state's new public access counselor.  As they explain, Smith will be tasked with helping those concerned citizens, journalists, and public watchdogs whose requests for public information are being denied:

Smith's greatest challenge will be establishing a culture of openness in governments across Illinois. Many government bodies — from tiny rural water districts to police departments to some of the largest state agencies — have become accustomed to routinely denying record requests that they deem inconvenient, unnecessary or potentially troublesome. They’ve come to look at FOIA not for guidance in declaring information public, but to find excuses to withhold information. We’d like to think it won’t take fines and the threat of large payouts of attorneys’ fees to bring that change of culture.

Just in case, however, we believe having Smith in the office of public access counselor will provide a strong backup.

To learn more about the history of this position, check out our post from last week.