The Tacoma News-Tribune hits the nail on the head in this editorial on why the Soter decision was a double blow to public disclosure.
Addressing the court's broadening of the attorney work-product exemption, the TNT writes: "The court essentially said that public agencies can keep records secret forever by outsourcing their investigations to lawyers."
On the court's decision to allow agencies to preemptively sue requestors (this is not a typo), the TNT writes, "The maneuver worked, and now the Supreme Court has sanctioned it, giving all public agencies the green light to use taxpayer dollars to file what smacks of strategic lawsuits against public participation."
“Og-blog” stands for “open-government blog” and that’s what we do: tell people about open-government issues of interest to regular citizens, media, trade associations, and government agencies. We find interesting stories and court cases from Washington State and other places about the Public Records Act, Open Public Meetings Act, access-to-court rulings, and media law.
We warmly welcome your thoughts on og-blog and especially welcome your emails with suggested postings and links to interesting stories and court cases. If you have something to say about open government in Washington State, sending it to og-blog is probably the best way to get it out. Don’t hesitate to contact us at greg@overstreet-law.com.
Blog Archive
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2007
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December
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- Seattle Times Editorial Calls Out Soter Majority
- (Longview) Daily News Rips Into Soter Ruling
- Wenatchee World Blasts Soter Decision
- Zeeck Hammers Soter Decision
- Brutal TNT Editorial on Soter Case
- Soter Decision Out ... And It's Bad
- Public Records Request to Santa
- Snohomish County to Put Public Meetings on the Web
- TNT Op-Ed on Gov't Spending Searchable Database
- Governor Supports Recording Executive Sessions
- (Vancouver) Columbian Editorial on Recording Execu...
- Olympian Editorial on Shield Law
- (Longview) Daily News Editorial on FOIA Amendments
- President Clinton Withholds 2,600 Pages of Documents
- Governor's Budget Seeks to Fund Electronic Records
- Court Orders Release of White House Visitor Logs
- Olympian Editorial on Recording Executive Sessions
- Recess Time
- Withholding Editorial Endorsements
- Public Records Could Have Shown ... Alleged Corrup...
- (Vancouver) Columbian Editorial on Tom Carr
- E-Meetings
- Yakima Herald-Republic Calls For Tom Carr's Removal
- More on Tom Carr Reporter Subpoenas
- Tacoma News-Tribune Blasts Tom Carr Over Reporter ...
- Columbia Basin Herald Editorialzes Against Tom Carr
- Seattle Teachers' Union Sues to Prevent Disclosure...
- ! Tom Carr Withdraws Reporter Subpoenas !
- Proposal for Searchable Information on State Spending
- Tri-City Herald Editorial on Richland Closed Meetings
- Tom Carr Reporter Subpoenas--Editorials and Columns
- "Hooray for Open Government as a Hot Campaign Issue"
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December
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