The City of Mesa played games for years with a public records requestor and now must pay $228,905 in penalties to the requestor. (The requestor's attorneys fees are not included; that will be even more.) The City has a population of 440 and an annual budget of $344,808.
The City could have followed the law or it could have settled early on. But aggressively fighting the requestor (with the City's taxpayer-funded attorneys) seemed like a better idea.
“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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2008
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August
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- Public Records Show ... Seattle Spent $2,900,000 o...
- Indiana Courts Apply Public Records Act to Themselves
- $228,905 Public Records Penalty Against Town of 440
- Injured Bicyclist Sues State to Get Bike Accident ...
- NJ Governor Tries to Use Executive Privilege to Sh...
- Public Records Show ... School District Spent $140...
- Open Gov't Violation Grounds For Recall
- Increase in Open Gov't Blogging
- Settlement Documents Should Be Open Court Records
- Jolene Unsoeld Awarded James Madison Award
- "John Hughes Leaves World for History"
- Tri-City Herald Editorial on John Does 1-11
- Olympian Editorial on John Does 1-11
- The Best Explanation of Why John Does 1-11 Will Hu...
- (Longview) Daily News Editorial on John Does 1-11 ...
- Public Records Show ... Police Officer Using City ...
- Brutal TNT Editorial on John Does 1-11 Case
- Seattle P-I Editorial on John Does 1-11 Case
- Seattle Times Does Not Endorse Justice Fairhurst
- How the Everett School District Tries to Operate i...
- The Power of OPM
- A Blow to Open Government: Bellevue John Does 1-11
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August
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