Alaska transparency headlines
From Sunshine Review
This article is a list of transparency related news from Alaska.
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| Report It • | The Good • | The Bad • | The Ugly | |
Alaska lawmakers could be freed after review
The Alaska state lawmakers, former Representative Vic Kohring and former House Speaker Pete Kott, were convicted in 2007 of accepting bribes from former VECO CEO Bill Allen in return for votes in favor of an oil tax that would benefit the company, according to Allen's testimony.[1]
The prosecution team, led by assistant U.S. Attorney Jim Trusty and Public Integrity lawyer Peter Koski, handled former senator Ted Steven's case.
Alaska records request seeks insight, clarity
"Seldom does a request for public records result in a quick release of public documents. Always, it seems, there is room for argument about what is and is not in the public’s best interest.
A records request of any substance usually goes straight to a publicly employed attorney. Newspapers then pay private attorneys to argue for what is in the public’s best interest. Ironic but true."
Alaska records policy changes proposed
"Draconian measure or reasonable access? Depends on who you ask.
Should the city of Homer "provide full and free access of the public to municipal records and information?" Or, should it "provide prompt and reasonable public access to non confidential public records according to law?"
Former UAF coach tries to block records release
"Former University of Alaska Fairbanks hockey coach Doc DelCastillo has gone to court to block the university from releasing documents regarding his departure from the job.
The Daily News-Miner filed a public records request on April 14 for documents leading up to the coach’s resignation four days earlier. DelCastillo’s attorney, Jason Gazewood, filed a motion on Friday in Fairbanks Superior Court for a preliminary injunction to prohibit the release."
Mine foes hit Alaska for withholding public papers
Sponsors of an unsuccessful ballot measure that targeted toxic mine pollution are suing to force Alaska officials to release government records that might answer questions about Gov. Sarah Palin's efforts to nix it.
The group Alaskans For Clean Water asked Alaska Superior Court in Anchorage on Tuesday to order immediate release of documents that the state says it can't fully produce until mid-November.
That extension wouldn't allow access to the records until after the Nov. 4 election. Palin is Republican John McCain's vice presidential running mate. The lawsuit alleges illegal failure to meet required timetables, "for the purposes of delay."
Attorney general tightens grip on records
Alaska Attorney General Talis Colberg is clamping down on how the state shares information with the public.
He's ordered state commissioners to get the approval of his agency, the Department of Law, before answering public records requests.
In a Sept. 26 letter from Colberg to various state commissioners, which was obtained Friday by the Empire, Colberg wrote that the large number of requests necessitated his office's intervention to make sure that any of the governor's privileges to withhold documents weren't being mistakenly waved."
State offices swamped by records requests
The nomination of Gov. Palin as a candidate for the vice presidency had an unintended consequence: It exposed some of the problems of the “electronic services and products” portion of the public records disclosure law (AS 40.25.115), which was last updated by the Legislature in 1992. The Legislature would have been aware that e-mail was already a useful tool for state employees at that time, but there is no indication that the Legislature contemplated a situation where scores of news organizations, bloggers and activist groups — Alaskan and Outside — would request e-mail records of hundreds or thousands of state employees, all at the same time and many demanding instant responses in a time of 24-hour news or blog updates.
Auditor's report: 145 contracts altered without Assembly OK
An internal auditor released a report Monday saying the municipality tinkered with union contracts without Assembly approval 145 times since 1990.
All changes to contracts between the municipality of Anchorage and union workers are supposed to be reviewed and approved by the Anchorage Assembly."
Should Todd Palin's e-mails be public
"He’s been called the shadow governor. Now Todd Palin’s role in state government is at the center of a lawsuit seeking e-mails the governor’s office has withheld for reasons such as “executive privilege.”
Does being the husband of Gov. Sarah Palin give Todd Palin special access to internal communications off limits to the general public?"
Unseen Sarah Palin e-mails still roiling Alaska politics
"The Alaska Democratic Party says the state's repeated delays in providing public records it has asked for involving Gov. Sarah Palin are "excessive and unwarranted."
The state notified the Democrats earlier this week that it would likely need until the end of March if not longer to provide records first requested more than four months ago, on Sept. 22, during the heat of the presidential campaign when Palin was the Republican Party's vice presidential candidate."
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