Letter: Public funding requires full transparency

Taxpayers have a right to know where and how their tax dollars are being spent.

The quintessential element for government is to function with transparency. Having served as an elected Supreme Court justice, I am familiar with the need.

So, I was encouraged to read that the Town of Hilton Head Island may review its contract with the Hilton Head Island-Bluffton Chamber of Commerce. Resisting disclosure raises a red flag that questions the good faith of our elected officials and will raise its ugly head in future elections.

The chamber asserts it does not have to account for the public funds it receives from the town because it is a nonprofit corporation. (Nonprofit corporations need not disclose their finances to the public.) However, the issue is what has been done with these public monies, regardless of the legal structure of the chamber.

Public officials have to withstand criticism, too. Rules can be formulated to prevent offensive and improper language. If violated, the right to speak can be temporarily suspended.

Any official who feels defamed has individual rights in our civil courts. Yet the town is spending public monies bringing a defamation lawsuit when one can be held accountable to a public figure only if there is actual malice. Public officials stand in a different position than the average citizen when criticized.

Lawsuits involving the accounting and defamation will sour public opinion. We can only trust these matters will be amicably and expeditiously resolved.

As President Harry Truman famously said, “If you can’t take the heat, get out of the kitchen.”

This story was originally published May 4, 2016 at 2:58 PM with the headline "Letter: Public funding requires full transparency."