The Power of OPM

This editorial from The Olympian opines that agencies like the Port of Olympia should cut their legal bill loses and simply turn over public records when a court says so, instead of appealing and then losing again and running up the bills even higher.

The Olympian is right, but why would a government agency do something it doesn't want to do when it has "free" tax money to spend trying to get lucky in a higher court? It's OPM: "Other People's Money" so why care?

A solution would be for the Public Records Act to do what the Open Public Meetings Act does: impose personal liability. Then it's not OPM but MOM: "My Own Money." It's weird how decision making changes when it's MOM.