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Organizers of this week's national effort to promote open government said they hope Oklahomans will demand that candidates running for office this year pledge to protect citizens' access to vital government information.

About three quarters of American adults believe the federal government is secretive, and nearly nine in 10 want to know presidential and congressional candidates' positions on open government, according to a study sponsored by the organizers of Sunshine Week, a national effort promoting open government that begins today.

Debra Gersh Hernandez, coordinator of Sunshine Week, said advocates are pushing this year to make open government a campaign issue.

"We really want to see openness become an important issue for the campaigns, to really have it discussed, to hear some real substantive things from candidates at all levels,” Hernandez said.

Sunshine Week began in Florida in 2002 as Sunshine Sunday. It went so well, organizers decided to make the idea a national effort.

More than 700 media outlets participated in the first national Sunshine Week in 2005. Since then, the effort has grown to include thousands of media outlets, libraries, universities and community leaders who are determined to keep government business open to the eyes of the public.

Hernandez said the success of the effort has grown as more people participate and as they see continued restriction of government information.

"Certainly we are seeing more people not only recognizing it, but doing things,” Hernandez said. "I think what happens is the events during the week really galvanizes people throughout the whole year.”

In Oklahoma, many open government advocates complained last week when the Oklahoma Supreme Court decided to limit Internet access to many court documents.

The court ruled individual pleadings and other documents filed in state court actions will not be publicly displayed on the Internet. Those wanting to see this information can go to the courthouse and view it.

The rules also say people filing cases should omit personal identifiers such as Social Security numbers, taxpayer identification numbers, names of minor children, dates of birth, financial account numbers and home addresses.

Joey Senat, past president of Freedom of Information Oklahoma Inc. and an Oklahoma State University journalism professor, said limiting identifying information like birthdates is "outrageous overreaching.” Without identifying information, it is more difficult for the public to tell whether someone they are considering a business or personal relationship with has a criminal history.

Hernandez said a growing sense of government secrecy is reflected in a recent survey conducted on behalf of Sunshine Week by the Scripps Howard News Service and Ohio University.

In 2006, 62 percent of those surveyed believed the federal government was secretive, a number that jumped to 74 percent this year. Almost half said state government was secretive and 40 percent thought their local government was secretive.

The survey showed 92 percent of Americans consider open government an important campaign issue.

Hernandez said there is never a guarantee that government officials won't overreach and pass laws restricting openness, but citizens should make it a priority to nail candidates down on the issue.

"You've got a better shot if it's someone who has said, ‘Yeah this is important to me,'” Hernandez said.