From the Boulder Weekly:  In February, Jefferson County District Court Judge Margie Enquist ruled that a secret ballot vote by the Arvada City Council didn’t violate Colorado’s Open Meetings Law, often referred to as the “Sunshine Law.” Enquist also ruled that the plaintiff, a citizen of Arvada, had no legal standing to take action against the city government because he couldn’t prove he suffered personal injury from the secret voting.

Enquist’s ruling challenges the foundation of Colorado’s 42-year-old Sunshine Law, part of which prohibits, with odd exceptions, state and local legislative bodies from casting secret ballots. But what some people find most disturbing is that the ruling questions whether any and all citizens have the right to challenge their government when it knowingly hides actions, and if upheld, renders the Sunshine Law a dead letter.

Steven Zansberg, a Denver-based attorney and president of Colorado’s Freedom of Information Coalition, says he found the ruling astonishing.

“It really is hard to understand how that statute, that the Open Meeting Laws, would not provide a basis for any member of the public to go to court for denial of access to a public meeting, to challenge the denial of access,” says Zansberg.

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