Oregon SPJ Sunshine Committee Urges Transparecy, Openness in Government

Portland, Ore. -- The reinvigorated Oregon Territory Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists announces the creation of a new Sunshine Committee that aims to improve transparency and openness in government.

The committee has already attracted some of the best of the state’s investigative journalists and their allies. The creation of the committee aligns with work through the Attorney General’s Public Records Task Force, which is working to identify legislative solutions to a long-festering problem of more than 500 exemptions and a general lack of clarity in Oregon Public Records Law.

Shasta Kearns Moore is on the board of the Oregon Territory Chapter of SPJ and serves as its Sunshine Chair. Kearns Moore reports on education and health care at the Portland Tribune and Pamplin Media Group.

Other members of the committee are:

Les Zaitz, the Oregon chapter’s liaison to the Attorney General’s task force. Zaitz has been at the forefront of investigative journalism since the 1970s through The Oregonian and other news outlets. He is a five-time winner of the Bruce Baer Award, the highest honor for an investigative journalist in Oregon.

Lee van der Voo, managing director for InvestigateWest, a nonprofit journalism studio working to equip the public with information to make change. Van der Voo’s work has appeared in several national news outlets, including The New York Times and CNN. She is the author of the upcoming nonfiction book "The Fish Market."

Nick Budnick, former Oregon SPJ sunshine chair, reports on crime and justice, Multnomah County and health care at the Portland Tribune and Pamplin Media Group.

John Sepulvado, the Weekend Edition host at Oregon Public Broadcasting radio. Sepulvado has won four Edward R. Murrow awards for environmental reporting and he shares in a Peabody for CNN's Gulf Oil Spill coverage.

Lori Shontz, an instructor at the University of Oregon School of Journalism and advisor to the student chapter of Oregon SPJ. Shontz has spent more than two decades as a writer and editor specializing in sports, women’s issues, and higher education.

Hillary Borrud, a state government reporter in the Capitol Bureau of the EO Media Group. Borrud is credited with breaking the story of former First Lady Cynthia Hayes’ $118,000 fellowship with environmental lobbying groups.

Read more about Oregon SPJ at oregonterritoryspj.blogspot.com or follow on Twitter, @SPJOregon, or Facebook.com/SPJOregon.

Join SPJ at spj.org/join.asp.

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