TNT Editorial: Ruling Could Be "Disaster for Open Government"

This Tacoma News-Tribune editorial discusses the deleted email case of BIAW v. Pierce County Auditor's Office.

"The county won a round last month when Thurston County Superior Court Judge Anne Hirsch dismissed the BIAW’s lawsuit, which claimed that the [Pierce County] auditor’s office had violated the state’s Public Records Act by deleting e-mails. The county argued the e-mails in question were never public records. Hirsch has agreed to reconsider the ruling. What concerns us is the possibility that the judge may have blown a gaping hole in the public records law. The BIAW, represented by Greg Overstreet, formerly an open-government expert for state Attorney General Rob McKenna, contends Hirsch did just that – because she apparently ruled that the e-mails were not public records because they had not been 'retained.' By that standard, any public document or e-mail would cease to be a public record the moment it was destroyed or deleted. If that is indeed the import of Hirsch’s ruling, it would be disaster for open government."

http://www.thenewstribune.com/opinion/story/133269.html

Since Allied Law Group represents the requestor in this case, we will refrain from detailed comments until after a decision.