Newspapers Filing Fewer Public Records Lawsuits

This New York Times article chronicles something we've noticed for a long time: fewer newspapers are filing suit to enforce open-government laws.

And government agencies know it. Some are counting on getting free passes to not provide records.

UPDATED: Port of Port Angeles Accused of Violating Open Meetings Act

Ah, the old "narrowing down the pool of candidates in executive session" situation.

The Open Public Meetings Act prohibits the Port of Port Angeles from deciding who to hire in a closed-to-the-public executive session. But they narrowed down the pool of candidates for the Port's CEO job from 22 to 1. Going from 22 to 1 seems like a decision. When you narrow down, say, which of 22 cars you want to buy to 1, most normal people would call that a "decision."

The Port commissioners voted unanimously in an open session--without any discussion in the open session--to offer the job to the 1. A unanimous decision without any discussion but "no decision was previously made"? Wow. A bunch of politicians coming to a unanimous decision without any discussion on which of 22 people to hire? Theoretically possible but not terribly likely. A room full of politicians could debate for hours what to order for lunch.

The story is detailed in the Peninsula Daily News.

NOTE: The story quotes Greg Overstreet of Allied Law Group.

UPDATE: Here is a news story with more details of what happened.

Federal Reserve Must Disclose

A New York District Court judge has ruled that the Federal Reserve must disclose records about emergency loans it made.

Counties' Insurance Company Won't Cover Public Records Claims

This is big news.

This letter indicates that the county insurance pool will no longer cover Public Records Act claims by counties when they get sued.

This is probably because some counties, like Jefferson County, made some questionable decisions and got sued, like by claiming the "pizza privacy exemption."

So if you're suing a county for a Public Records Act violation, the county might be on the hook itself for the money (fees and penalties awarded to you and the county's own defense costs).

This might actually encourage sensible settlements by counties. Funny how making people pay the costs of their own actions makes them a little more careful. (Of course, when counties pay for their actions, it's with your tax money. But even this seems more like "their" money than insurance money.)

Morgan v. City of Federal Way--Victory for Open Gov't

The Supreme Court issued its decision today in Morgan v. City of Federal Way, which involved a municipal judge trying to prevent the disclosure of a report on his alleged misconduct.

The requestor, the (Tacoma) News Tribune, won.

TNT Blasts Governor Over "Executive Privilege" For Public Records

The (Tacoma) New Tribune writes this editorial about Governor Gregoire initially claiming "executive privilege" to withhold public records.

The editorial describes other cases involving these so-called privileges.

Thanks to Mike Reitz and his Facebook page for alerting us to this one.