It’s unfortunate open government and freedom of information has to be such a mixed bag in New York state.

There is a tremendous amount of information available to the public without ever having to file a Freedom of Information request. Vast numbers of public documents are posted to city, county, school district, town and village websites. Some governments do better than others, of course. And, we must note state efforts in the state Comptroller, Attorney General and Governor’s office. Notably, Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli has spending and revenue information available to the public through Open Book New York while Gov. Andrew Cuomo created the data.ny.gov – a website that has information on public safety, transportation, economic development and a host of other areas.

Each of those avenues can provide a valuable peek into the workings of local governments or paint a picture of the areas in which we live when paired with other information.

Why, then, are those same state officials allergic to true transparency?

We note the irony of Sunshine Week, a national effort to promote awareness of the need for open government, coming in the midst of New York’s budget deliberations; a process whose close is the very definition of closed government. Here’s the Cliff’s Notes version of how it works: the budget is proposed by the governor and then the state Assembly and Senate hold hearings and discussions resulting in the passage of an Assembly budget and a Senate budget. Then, the governor, Assembly speaker and Senate majority leader lock themselves in a room and come up with a final budget. That would be acceptable if there was a chance for legislators to debate the final budget or for the public to weigh in. Too often, however, state law that allows scant hours for careful consideration of a billion dollar budget mean budget resolutions are voted on quickly and, sometimes, in the middle of the night.

It doesn’t have to be that way.

It’s worth noting, too, the recent kerfuffle over Cuomo’s plan to purge state officials’ emails after 90 days. The 90 day purge dates back to Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s administration, but it was Cuomo who widened its use to all state officials and government agencies. Criticism of the policy – again ironically coming to a head during Sunshine Week – is likely to be changed after criticism from the public and good government groups. The purge certainly violates the spirit of the Freedom of Information Act since records that no longer exist aren’t applicable to FOIL.

Bills have been proposed in the Assembly and Senate to make permanently preserve the records of policymakers, legislators and statewide officials – often for at least seven years. Both bills should be approved by the Legislature and signed by Cuomo. Creating a budget process with true transparency would be worthy legislation to pass, too, for sunshine’s sake.