Episode Overview

Podcast: New Books Network
Host: Lillian Barger
Guest: Miranda S. Spivack
Book Discussed: Backroom Deals in Our Backyards: How Government Secrecy Harms Our Communities and the Local Heroes Fighting Back (The New Press, 2025)
Air Date: November 14, 2025

This episode centers on Miranda Spivack’s book about the consequences of government secrecy at the local level, the impact on communities, and the everyday people—accidental activists—who challenge opaque and unfair systems. Spivack, an award-winning veteran reporter, draws on her decades of investigative journalism to illustrate how secrecy, outsourcing, and weak access to information limit public oversight, while also sharing practical advice and inspiring stories of citizen action.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

Spivack’s Background and Motivation

• Focus on Local Journalism: Spivack describes her 40+ year career, including 20 years at The Washington Post, emphasizing her commitment to local and state-level journalism.
  • “I really prefer journalism where I think you can see the impact of both what we're doing and what government is doing.” (01:55)
• Why Local Matters: National news dominates, but local issues impact daily life—yet they’re often neglected, exacerbated by the decline of local news organizations. (02:41, 02:59)
  • “There is not a reporter now hanging out at the city council meeting at midnight, which is of course, when they do all their deeds that they don't want the public to see.” (02:59)

Government Secrecy: How and Why It Persists

• Development and Secrecy: Major deals, like data centers or Amazon’s HQ2 search, are shrouded in NDAs (Non-Disclosure Agreements), shutting the public out from the start (03:43).
  • “They wouldn't even talk to them about all the giveaways that Amazon wanted from state and local governments without an NDA, which of course meant the public was shut out from the get go.” (04:01)
• Legal Loopholes: State laws often allow governments to meet in secret for real estate/development deals (04:22).
• NIMBYism and Internal Community Conflicts: Spivack addresses how residents sometimes block beneficial projects (e.g. affordable housing) via environmental or procedural arguments, but secrecy shouldn’t be the answer (05:39-07:03).
  • “No matter what the issue is, the tendency of governments is often to push the public out.” (06:51)

Accessibility and Barriers to Public Participation

• Public Meetings at Inaccessible Times: Forums are often scheduled when most people can’t attend, limiting meaningful input (07:03).
• “The deals have all been worked out before the public meetings” (07:55). Public input, when sought, is often performative.

Outsourcing Government Functions

• Secrecy Through Privatization: Local governments increasingly outsource to private companies, who then claim “trade secrets” to avoid releasing information, undermining transparency (08:42-10:19).
  • “If you are a...private company doing government work, probably 99% of what you do should be disclosable to the public.” (10:15)

Case Studies of Local Heroes

• Diverse Activism: Spivack's book focuses on individuals from varied backgrounds confronting issues like contaminated water, failing sewers, unsafe roads, and flawed criminal justice algorithms (10:45-12:50).
• Obstacles Faced: The overarching challenge: government and private entities consistently withhold information required to make change.

The Consequences of Failing Infrastructure

• Secrecy Isn’t Caused by Infrastructure Decay, but by the trend toward outsourcing and the resulting loss of data control—especially problematic for public safety (13:15-14:20).

Stadium and Mega-Project Deals

• Behind Closed Doors: Deals for sports stadiums/opera houses are negotiated out of public view, justified by questionable claims of economic benefit (15:08-17:39).
  • “I have yet to ever see one where the government stood up and said, oh yeah, here are the billions of dollars we made off of this.” (16:32)
  • “Hardly no one can afford to go to them.” (17:31)

Challenges for Journalists and Residents

• Barriers to Information:
  • Records are often undigitized and hard to access.
  • Officials use ignorance of the law or fear of release as excuses (“when in doubt, don’t give it out”) (18:06-20:05).
  • Residents—especially “accidental activists”—face even greater difficulties without legal or journalistic resources (20:05).
  • Notable Quote: “It's tough. But I mean, that's part of the purpose of my book, is to show people what they can do and what they are entitled to get under law.” (20:51)

Technology: Double-Edged Sword

• Mixed Record: Digitization can potentially improve access, but most records remain on paper; even with digitization, oversight from humans remains necessary (22:10-23:12).

Corruption and Graft

• Incompetence vs. Malice: Spivack warns not to over-assume conspiracy—often, incompetence prevails, but cases like Uniontown, Alabama, show unresolved use (or potential misuse) of millions in public funds (23:26-25:16).
  • “You can never underestimate incompetence. Start with that. And then, yes, it could be something way worse than that.” (23:36)
  • “Where did that money go? There has yet to be a really formal public reckoning...” (25:01)

Practical Tools for Residents

• Open Records/Meetings Laws: All states have these; 90–95% of government-produced material should be accessible (27:11).
• Be Proactive: Learn the law before you need it, build relationships with local record-keepers.
• Ask About NDAs: Query governments on the existence and rationale for non-disclosure agreements with private partners (29:14).
• Attend Meetings in Person: Physical presence has more impact than online attendance and enables access to more information (30:54).
• Coalition Building: Numbers matter—collective action gets attention (32:01-33:44).
  • “If you come with a petition signed by 50 people, that's a different deal altogether. And politicians pay attention to numbers, for sure.” (32:14)

Whistleblowers and Partnerships

• Inside Allies: Cultivate relationships with sympathetic government employees (33:57).
• Work with Journalists: Media attention is powerful, though lack of local journalism makes this harder today (34:54-36:44).
  • “A lot of my best tips came from people in the community who, you know, saw something and said something and sought us out.” (34:55)

Special Interests and Corporate Tactics

• Economic Threats: Corporations threaten to leave if held accountable, leveraging economic insecurity (37:15-38:43).
  • “The companies that ... had a role in the pollution were just going to pull up stakes and...take away 200 jobs or whatever.” (37:30)

The Big Message

• Community Power: Residents have robust legal rights to information and should exercise them persistently and collectively.
• Enforcement Is the Challenge: The laws exist, but their implementation relies on citizen pressure and vigilance (39:03-40:45).
  • “You have a lot of rights to information that your tax money is paying for and you should learn to exercise those rights politely, of course, but, you know, stand up to whatever kind of obstruction or indifference is often the case too, from government.” (39:16)

Looking Ahead: Emerging and Future Threats

• Environmental Concerns: Water and air quality issues, weakened federal oversight, and increased reliance on state/local responsibility (41:19-43:03).
• Public Health Infrastructure: Risks in data collection and public health protection as federal agencies recede.
• State Power: States always had substantial power, but will now need to exercise it more fully as federal oversight wanes (43:16).

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the Decline of Local News:
  “There is not a reporter now hanging out at the city council meeting at midnight, which is of course, when they do all their deeds that they don't want the public to see.” (02:59)
• On Outsourcing and Secrecy:
  “Governments...have done a lot of outsourcing of government functions to private companies. And once they do that, they often lose control of the data and documents that are in the possession of the private companies…” (08:50)
• On Incidental Activists:
  “These are nascent activists, these are people who become activists, they don't sign up for this.” (11:16)
• On Government Excuses:
  “Their tendency is, when in doubt, don't give it out.” (18:41)
• Advice to Residents:
  “If you come with a petition signed by 50 people, that's a different deal altogether. And politicians pay attention to numbers, for sure.” (32:14)
• Big Message:
  “You have a lot of rights to information that your tax money is paying for and you should learn to exercise those rights politely, of course, but, you know, stand up to whatever kind of obstruction or indifference is often the case too, from government.” (39:16)
• On Persistence:
  “All of the people in my book were incredibly persistent. I mean, sometimes I wondered, how did they do it? But they got mad. They felt blown off or dissed or something, and they just stuck with it—in some cases for 10 years.” (40:52)

Suggested Listening Map / Timestamps

• Spivack’s Background & Importance of Local News: 01:38–02:59
• Secrecy in Local Government Deals: 03:36–04:51
• Internal Community Conflicts & NIMBY: 04:51–07:03
• The Impact of Private Outsourcing: 08:42–10:19
• Case Studies — Who Fights Back: 10:19–12:50
• Barriers for Journalists and Residents: 18:06–20:51
• The Role of Technology: 22:10–23:12
• Corruption and the Limits of Accountability: 23:26–25:16
• Practical Tools for Public Engagement: 27:11–31:46
• Coalition Building & Whistleblowing: 32:01–34:45
• Working with the Press: 34:54–36:44
• Corporate Power and Threats: 37:15–38:43
• Main Takeaways & Call to Action: 39:03–40:45
• Emerging Issues and Power Shifts: 41:19–43:31

Episode Takeaways

• Government secrecy at the local level has widespread, tangible consequences for everyday life.
• Outsourcing public functions to private companies enables a “trade secret” cloak of secrecy.
• Vigilant, persistent residents (not just journalists) can make a difference—often by organizing together and using open records laws.
• The community has significant legal rights but must use, defend, and expand them.
• Upcoming threats include declining federal oversight of environmental and public health data—putting even more responsibility on the states and localities.

Miranda Spivack’s message is ultimately one of empowerment: knowledge of the law plus persistent engagement can pierce the shadows of local government secrecy, but only if we, as community members, act collectively and consistently.