Aurora Sentinel: Nothing like a little sunshine to help throw some light on some wrong.

There was no shortage of wrong a few weeks ago when the majority of Aurora City Council members took a three-day junket to Washington D.C. to discuss how the federal government might do more for our local one.

It’s Sunshine Week, folks. That time of year when newspapers like the Sentinel draw your attention to the important work we and other newsrooms do to ensure an open and accountable government. Rather than talk about hypotheticals, let’s talk about reality.

Seven city lawmakers and the city manager really did tour a variety of beltway federal agencies and congressional officials to talk city business in what was not only a clear violation of Colorado open meeting laws, but a waste of taxpayer dollars.

Adding insult to injury, city lawmakers got all shy about Sentinel allegations that they met illegally in Washington Feb. 12- Feb. 14. City legal and communication officials, however, defended the meetings. In a story by Sentinel reporter Kara Mason, officials absurdly said that no “public business” was discussed on the trip. It was a junket slated, supposedly, for the sole purpose of discussing with federal officials issues focusing on housing, Buckley Air Force Base, transportation and other federal grants and problems in Aurora.

Busted.

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