The District of Columbia Open Government Summit March 13 will feature appearances by Phil Mendelson, 2012 D.C. Open Government Summit chair of the D.C. Council, Robert Spagnoletti, chair of the Board of Ethics and Government Accountability, and David Zvenyach, general counsel of the D.C. Council.
The SPJ-DC pro chapter, the D.C. Open Government Coalition, and the American University School of Communications-Journalism Division are co-sponsoring the event in the National Press Club Holeman Lounge from 6 to 8:30 p.m.
The summit takes place during Sunshine Week, a national initiative to promote a dialogue on the importance of open government and freedom of information. This nonpartisan, nonprofit initiative is celebrated in mid-March each year to coincide with James Madison’s birthday March 16. For more, visit www.sunshineweek.org.
At the D.C. summit, the coalition will share results of its recent open meetings audit, surveying compliance across dozens of D.C. boards and commissions.
Spagnoletti will discuss the audit and the D.C. Open Government Office with Fritz Mulhauser, co-chair of the coalition's Legal Committee. Kathy Patterson, coalition president, will host Mendelson for a question-answer session on the state of transparency in D.C. government.
Finally, Zvenyach will join James McLaughlin, co-chair of the Coalition Legal Committee, to discuss the Council’s recent settlement of litigation over access to Councilmembers’ emails. Kenyan McDuffie (Ward 5), new chair of the Council's Government Operations Committee, will give opening remarks.
To pre-register for the program click here: http://www.press.org/events/dc-open-government-summit-0. Reception to follow.