When a band of Connecticut newspaper publishers prevailed on then-Governor Ella Grasso to pass Connecticut's Freedom of Information Act in 1975, they had two things going for them.
One was the recent Watergate scandal. It not only forced President Richard M. Nixon to resign, it also created a backlash against official deception, and a new thirst for truth in government.
The other asset was a young lawyer named Mitchell W. Pearlman.
He had worked as a staff attorney at Hartford's Neighborhood Legal Services for his first four years after graduating from the University of Connecticut School of Law, and in 1975 was an all-but invisible associate at the Hartford firm of Schor & Totten.
Without any fanfare, Pearlman began working as the first counsel for the newly-created Freedom of Information Commission. He also did legal work for the elections division of the Secretary of the State's Office.
Nearly a half-century later, Pearlman is still active as a champion of open records and an opponent of government secrecy. For his tireless efforts, he will receive the Law Tribune Publisher's Award in Honors Night ceremonies on June 13.
"Mitch is a giant," said J. Herbert Smith, a columnist, author and current president of the Connecticut Council on Freedom of Information, the organization created by those newspaper publishers who urged Grasso to create a Connecticut FOI act. Smith added: "He is a resource for the entire nation in the field of Freedom of Information – and the world. He just got back from Tunisia, for God's sakes. They invited him to come and explain to them about transparency in government."
Pearlman is no less passionate about the issue than he was in 1975. In a recent editorial, he decried the increasing secretiveness of Connecticut's legislative process, in which important measures are hidden to escape public debate and press scrutiny. "In a democracy," Pearlman wrote, "transparency is essential in lawmaking. It increases the public accountability of the lawmakers. It raises the public's confidence that all voices are heard. And it helps ensure that the laws are rational and in the public interest."
The great innovation in the way Connecticut's FOI Act was created is in the makeup of its enforcement body — the commission itself. It was designed to be insulated from political pressure, as much as a government agency can be. A bipartisan balance of legislative and executive leaders appoints the commission members. They, in turn, select an executive director. That person is thus not a political appointee, and is protected by civil service job security, and can only be fired for good cause.
In 1978, after just three years as an FOI lawyer, Pearlman was elevated to executive director, a position he held until 2006.
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