I'm not sure who said it first, but I'll paraphrase it here -- there's a lot wrong with Pennsylvania's Sunshine Act, but nothing worse than that the most consistent abusers of the law are the people who wrote it and passed it.

That would be members of the General Assembly, of course. When it comes to doing the work of the people in secret or behind closed doors, they've got it down to a science.

And right behind them on the list are elected officials at every level of national, state and local government.

When once this state had the worst Sunshine Law in the country, now it's figured to be the second or third worst, according to people who study those things. And that comes after state lawmakers took several years to restructure the law. Sorry, but there's not been much of an improvement as far as I can tell.

Teri Henning, media law counsel for the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association, said last year that "the real problem with the act -- and this probably won't surprise anyone -- is that public officials ignore it."

Sad to say, but she was right on target.

And here we are celebrating Sunshine Week, beginning yesterday and running through Friday. It's supposed to be an opportunity to open a dialogue "about the public's right of access to government information," according to the Sunshine Week: Your Right to Know Web site.

It's almost laughable.

Noble concept, mind you. But when it comes right down to it most people in

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power simply have no interest in providing access to information to those most in need of it -- all the rest of us.

Who works for us? It's a shame, really. Because what it tells me is they have forgotten just who it is they're working for, who's signing their paychecks.

Here at home, the York County commissioners have a long history -- a couple of administrations, at least -- of holding secret meetings, making decisions under the cloak of darkness, going into executive session for the wrong reasons and then going through the motions of a vote (with rarely any discussion) during the public meeting.

They think that's OK. It's not. They think that's a satisfactory democratic process. It isn't.

The present board of commissioners is as guilty of that conduct as any we've had over the last 30 years. Call them on it, and they'll straighten up for a couple of weeks. But before you know it, they're right back to their old tricks.

It's not just the commissioners, however. The same can be said for municipal officials, police and fire departments and school board members throughout York County. Not all of them, all of the time. But too many of them at any time.

They don't understand the notion of "open government." And they don't like it when the watchdogs of government -- that would be the media -- hold them to the letter and spirit of the law.

A public issue: Though
elected officials might disagree, this has nothing to do with the press. Not really. It's about the public. Citizens have a right to know what's going on. They have a right to know how their money is being spent, how and why decisions are made and who's going to be affected by those decisions. More than a right, in fact. They have a real need for access to that information.

And when they're deprived of that information because it's easier for an elected official to conduct public business in private, citizens are being cheated in a most profound way.

Open meeting and right-to-know laws -- even as pitiful as they are in this state -- are there for a reason, and public officials should be first in line to assure compliance with them.

That should be the focus of Sunshine Week.

We'll keep our fingers crossed, but we won't be holding our breath waiting for it to happen.

From hard experience, I know better.

Columns by Larry A. Hicks, Dispatch columnist, run Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. E-mail: lhicks@yorkdispatch.com .