Public Records Show ... Cops Routinely Get Out of DUIs (Part I)

"The state is airing another ad against drunken driving this month warning, 'Drive Hammered, Get Nailed.' But there's an exception out on the streets for some police officers. Cops confronted with a drunken-driving arrest fare better than the average citizen, according to a Seattle P-I investigation of seven years' worth of internal discipline records, arrest reports, accident reports, license-suspension files and court documents statewide."

This is part one of the P-I's series: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/specials/undueinfluence/326446_dui06.html

How was it that the P-I could find all this out? Public records. You know, that pesky "unfunded mandate" that police agencies always complain about.

Judge Will Reconsider Denying Release of Voter Fraud-Related E-Mails

"Did the Pierce County Auditor’s Office improperly delete e-mails related to questions about possible voter registration fraud? That’s a key issue in a dispute between the state building industry and the auditor’s office. Last month, Thurston County Superior Court Judge Anne Hirsch rejected a public-records claim filed by the Building Industry Association of Washington. But Hirsch will reconsider her ruling Friday in Olympia after the builders asked her to take a second look. The builders group considers her ruling, which pertains to alleged voter registration fraud in Pierce County, a crippling blow to state public records law."

Here is the story in the Tacoma News-Tribune: http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/story/126133.html

The Olympian also published a version of the TNT story: http://www.theolympian.com/southsound/story/181679.html

Note: Allied Law Group represents the records requestor in this case. We do not provide detailed comments on ongoing ALG cases. When a final decision has been rendered we will post it on og-blog and provide comments.

Judge Seals Child Protective Services Records

"A Thurston County judge sealed the Child Protective Services records of a deceased man Friday, despite objections of the man’s adoptive parents, who think the records show misconduct by the state. Superior Court Judge Christine Pomeroy said she was bound to follow the law, which required her to seal the administrative file."

http://www.theolympian.com/southsound/story/181001.html

Judge Pomeroy is the same judge who issued the "paper-only" ruling discussed on og-blog here, here, and here.

Contact Info for All State Agencies' Public Records Officers

Perhaps og-blog has reached an all-time low in policy-wonk nerdiness. But ...

For og-blog readers who make frequent public records requests, here's a link to all state agencies' public records officers:

http://apps.leg.wa.gov/documents/laws/wsr/PROlist.htm

Tip of the hat to Jason Mercier of Washington Policy Center for sending us the link.

Public Employee Negotiation Records Op-Ed

An op-ed in the Tacoma News Tribune from Michael Reitz of the Evergreen Freedom Foundation:

"We’ve all heard the slogan: 'What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.' Thankfully, a judge recently ruled that this logic doesn’t apply to public employee contract negotiations, and taxpayers cannot be completely shut out of a publicly funded process. King County Judge Christopher Washington ruled that documents exchanged between the state and public employee unions during negotiations are public records. ... What you do in Vegas is your own business, but what state employees do on public time is everyone’s."

http://www.thenewstribune.com/opinion/othervoices/story/123114.html

Editorial: Open Meetings Law Routinely Violated

"A few bonehead seminars on Washington’s open government laws would be in order for many local officials. Those laws are as clear as any, and they are of fundamental importance, yet some local boards and councils just don’t get it. On a regular basis, local governing bodies violate either the law or the spirit of the law by hiding the public’s business from the public. The most recent case in the South Sound was the Tacoma School Board’s apparently illegal decision, in a closed meeting, to eliminate a candidate for the job of interim superintendent."

http://www.thenewstribune.com/opinion/story/122302.html

Yep. The Open Public Meetings Act is no longer a functional law. The OPMA has, in effect, been repealed by continuous and unremedied violations. The reason? There is no realistic downside to violating the OPMA. The eight gauntlets are why.