How Open Records Laws Might Have Stopped Sandusky Sooner at Penn State

Read this and then tell me open records laws are "too much work" for government agencies and "too expensive."

Asotin County Sued Over Public Records

This KLEW-TV piece describes a suit by Rich Eggleston against Asotin County to obtain public records withheld from him for eight years.

NOTE: Greg Overstreet of Overstreet Law Firm is co-counsel for Rich Eggleston in this suit.

Olympian Editorial on Sunshine Committee

The Olympian hits the nail on the head in this editorial.

Museum Board's OPMA Issues

This story from the Spokesman-Review discusses whether a decision was made in an executive session.

NOTE: The article quotes Greg Overstreet of Overstreet Law Firm.

McKenna and Inslee Vow Not to Claim Executive Privilege

This piece from The Olympia describes some background on both gubernatorial candidate's records on open government and their pledge not to claim executive privilege to prevent disclosure, as Gov. Gregoire has.

TNT Editorial on Access to Court Records

The (Tacoma) News Tribune writes this editorial on the mixed results of a TNT reporter's request for court records from various courts.

Everett Herald Story on Digital Communications and the PRA

This story from the Everett Herald looks at digital communications--cell phones, texts, tweets--and how they intersect with the Public Records Act.

MRSC Writes About Co-Mediation

The Municipal Research Service Center, a resource service for local governments, writes this about the co-mediation performed by Open Government Mediations.

Olympian Editorial on Executive Privilege Case

The Olympian writes this editorial on the Supreme Court's consideration of Gov. Gregoire's claim that governors have an "executive privilege" that allows them to withhold public records.

Public Records Lead to Acquittals of Innocent People

I've been saying this for years...

Hat tip to Mark for sending this in.

State Supreme Court to Hear "Executive Privilege" Public Records Case

The Washington State Supreme Court accepted review of Freedom Foundation v. Gregoire.  The case will determine if the Governor has a constitutional-based "executive privilege" allowing her office to withhold public records that would otherwise be disclosable under the Public Records Act.  This is a big one.

The case was brought by the Freedom Foundation.

Iowa Now Has Open-Gov't Mediation Agency

What a terrific idea.  Good for Iowa.  Looks like they've done what OG-MED is doing in Washington State (via the private sector).

Whatcom County Settles OPMA Suit

Whatcom County agreed to pay a $2,000 settlement to quickly end a suit by Tim Paxton alleging email meeting among the entire county council violated the Open Public Meetings Act.

NOTE: Greg Overstreet of Overstreet Law Firm represented Tim Paxton.

Greg Overstreet Forms Overstreet Law Firm

Og-blog has been sponsored by Allied Law Group for several years. On April 1, Greg Overstreet left Allied and formed Overstreet Law Firm (www.overstreet-law.com).

Supreme Court Rules Accident Reports Disclosable

The Washington State Supreme Court, in a 7-2 decision, ruled that certain accident reports are subject to disclosure. Here is the Seattle Times story on this.

President Obama's Muddy Record on Open Gov't

This Politico piece examines the topic.

(Vancouver) Columbian Editorial on Open Gov't

Here is an editorial from the (Vancouver) Columbian on the need for transparency in the legislative process.

(Horrible) SB 6351 Appears to be Dead

SB 6351, which would have allowed a court to prevent any person from making public records requests if the request were a "significant burden" to the agency, looks like it is dead.

Judge Orders Disclosure Despite Contract

A King County Superior Court judge ordered the disclosure of records despite a union contract saying they could not be released.

The City of Seattle, to its credit, argued that it must disclose the records; the police union argued against disclosure.

Co-Mediation!

Hell has officially frozen over. Greg Overstreet and Ramsey Ramerman have teamed up.

The Associated Press is running a story this weekend on "co-mediation" in public records cases. The idea is that instead of looking to one mediator to attempt to resolve these contentious--and very expensive--cases out of court, each "side" has a co-mediator. Greg Overstreet is the requestor's co-mediator and noted agency PRA attorney Ramsey Ramerman is the agency's co-meditor.

Here is the Overstreet/Ramerman co-mediation web site: www.og-med.com. (Both Overstreet and Ramerman will continue their law practices, but will also provide co-mediation services.)

The AP story is running in various newspapers. They are the Olympian, Bellingham Herald, The (Tacoma) News Tribune, Seattle Times, and (Vancouver) Columbian. FindLaw is also running it.

KING 5 TV correctly notes that their story on the ballooning costs of Public Records Act litigation is one of the reasons why co-mediation is getting some attention.

Co-mediation just might be the thing that breaks the log jam in some of these cases. Co-mediation might reduce the number of "horror stories" each side has.