To the editor: The voters of West Milford have been betrayed by four members of the committee that collected signatures to get the Sunshine Act on the ballot in November. Instead of going forward with the initiative to make local government more open, they withdrew the petition because a few politicians and self-serving bureaucrats lied about what is in the Sunshine Act and how it would impact local government. Does anyone really believe that posting some official documents on the Web and dropping the price of copies from 75 cents per page to a nickel would bankrupt the township? Or that putting financial disclosure forms required by state law on the Internet would lead to pedophiles combing the township Web site for potential victims? Or that a citizen’s petition to make government more transparent and accessible was somehow “sinister?” How stupid do they think we are? Andrew Gargano was the only Sunshine Act committee member who did not vote to withdraw the initiative. He alone wanted to honor the contract the committee made with the voters who signed the petition. He should be applauded as a man of his word. Unlike Gargano, the other Democrats on the committee broke their deal with the petition signers in a misguided belief that the Sunshine Act initiative would somehow have killed the chances of Jim Geist and Jim Rauth to win seats on the council. They did not trust the electorate to see through the disinformation campaign launched by people who, for whatever reason, are afraid of open government and the people’s right to know. Ironically, the Sunshine Act may very well hurt Geist and Rauth in November. Not because they originally supported the initiative but because they didn’t support it when the chips were down. Carol Ukens West Milford