Glendale sued for denying FOIA request
From Sunshine Review
June 26, 2009 The Goldwater Institute filed suit against Glendale, AZ on Friday for denying a request for public records about the potential sale of the Coyotes hockey team.[1]
[edit] Coyotes hockey team
The Goldwater Institute requested records for all current and future documents related to the negotiations of potential new ownership of the Coyotes. Glendale denied the entire request, noting the negotiations were confidential. The city also mentioned it would be burdensome to send future records.
"The denial of this records request is a clear violation of Arizona's public records law," said Carrie Ann Sitren, an attorney with the Goldwater Institute. "Courts have given clear instruction about how to handle sensitive information in public records and how to handle on-going requests for public records. Glendale followed neither instruction. The city is deliberately keeping public records from the public, and $20 million in taxpayer money could be at stake."[1]
Sitren also said that the cases the city provided as the basis for their denial were not sufficient.
[edit] Potential incentives
There have been media reports that the city intends to offer incentive in the form of taxpayer subsidy to a new owner in order to keep the tam in Glendale. The Goldwater Institute aimed to confirm this information because the subsidies were reported to have ranged from free rent of the city-owned Jobing.com Arena to a direct subsidy of up to $10 million a year
All of the such subsidies could violate the Arizona Constitution's "Gift Clause," which the Goldwater Institute has taken on as a central legal challenge against the city of Phoenix.
"If Glendale is considering offering taxpayer money to potential buyers of the Coyotes, taxpayers have an interest in those negotiations," Sitren said, and Yourwestvalley.com reported. "There is no reason taxpayers shouldn't have access to those records. Indeed, this situation is exactly why public records laws were created."
The Goldwater Institute is a nonprofit public policy research and litigation organization with private supporters.
[edit] External links
- Goldwater Institute Scharf-Norton Center for Constitutional Litigation
- Glendale website
- Phoenix Coyotes official website
[edit] References
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