Openness in government is not a liberal, conservative, Republican, Democrat, independent, tea party or libertarian issue.

The importance of transparency in local, state and federal government should transcend parties and political ideologies.

Checks and balances provide few checks and little balance when officials broker deals behind closed doors and conceal documents that contain important information that citizens have the right, and often the need, to know.

Local government has the biggest impact in the lives of citizens on a day-to-day basis.

Whether it is in the form of property taxes, sales taxes, personal property taxes, business taxes, state-shared dollars or federal grants, loans and funding, local government is 100 percent taxpayer funded.

The decisions being made, the monies being spent and the records being kept by city hall, the county commission or the board of education all belong to liberals, conservatives, Republicans, Democrats, independents, tea party volunteers, libertarians and even politically disinterested individuals.

All stakeholders have a stake in open meetings and public records and should care about transparency issues. Bipartisanship is like the weather — everyone talks about it, but no one does anything about it.

The difference is that while a person can’t change the weather, officials could choose to work together.

The lack of and need for true government transparency should be a truly bipartisan cause.

We encourage all our local elected officials, regardless of party affiliation or ideology, to commit themselves to more openness in government and we hope as many elected officials, city and county lawyers and records custodians as possible will take part in the Georgia Open Government Symposium in Macon this Friday.

The problem with government and its view of transparency is that most of the training it receives is from either government itself or someone employed by the government.

it is not uncommon for elected officials and government employees to

travel to Atlanta for training at a high cost to taxpayers.

The open government symposium is a regional event, is much closer to Valdosta and Lowndes County and it is free, requiring no overnight travel.

The Georgia First Amendment Foundation and Transparency Project of Georgia will present the Open Government Symposium with the sponsorship of the Center for Collaborative Journalism Friday, Oct. 17, beginning at 10 a.m.

The event will be held at the Center for Collaborative Journalism in Mercer Village at Mercer University, Macon.