Kentucky transparency headlines
From Sunshine Review
This article is a list of transparency related news from Kentucky.
Pineville Mayor resigns
November 12, 2008: Pineville Mayor Bob Madon resigned after a city council meeting in the aftermath of being indicted on federal vote buying charges during the 2006 mayoral election.
Councilwoman Diana Anderson will act as the interim mayor. Read the entire story here...
Lawmaker's files remain closed
November 11, 2008: Attorney General Jack Conway has declined to release records about a state senator's employment record at Murray State University, citing an "open investigation."
Conway revealed the investigation, which relates to the employment documents of state Sen. Joey Pendleton, D-Hopkinsville, in a letter to State Republican Party Chairman Steve Robertson on Nov. 5, the day after Pendleton was re-elected to the Senate. Read the full article here.
AG: Lexington violated Open Records Act
October 28, 2008: The Kentucky attorney general's office has ruled that Lexington's Urban County Council violated the Open Records Act when it denied District 2 write-in candidate Randy Tobia's request for e-mails sent to and from District 2 Councilman Tom Blues' city e-mail address.
"Although Mr. Tobia's request was broad in scope, the council failed to demonstrate the existence of an unreasonable burden in producing the requested records, by clear and convincing evidence, and its denial therefore constituted a violation of the Open Records Act," the attorney general's office wrote in its ruling. Read the full article here.
Newspaper withdraws AG appeal
October 23, 2008: The Independent has taken action to withdraw its appeal to the Attorney General’s Office over an open records request filed with the Boyd County Fiscal Court last month regarding inmate health care.
The Independent filed the appeal Oct. 13 after county officials failed to respond to an open records request dated Sept. 25. Read the full article here.
Governor Beshear seizes websites
October 6, 2008: Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear seized the domain names to 141 gambling websites.
Gov. Beshear claims that these websites are illegal and unregulated. Opponents are concerned on the grounds that the sites are not illegal, are regulated in the municipality they are based in, and the idea of a slippery slope being created where the state could seize intellectual private property without proper legal action. Read more here.
Track your tax dollars
October 3, 2008: Kentuckians could have an "Open Door" into the state's financial transactions by January 2009.
Gov. Steve Beshear created an e-Transparency Task Force in June with the purpose of installing a "one-stop" information center for taxpayers on taxes, government contracts, salaries, election finance and investments.
"We're very excited about opening the shades and letting the light shine in," said Allen Eskridge, assistant secretary of state. Read the full article here.
Confidence in courts on trial
September 21, 2008: Agencies that control hundreds of millions of tax dollars should open their books to public scrutiny.
No one could seriously argue otherwise.
Yet the Kentucky judiciary claims a constitutional mandate to selectively withhold information about a 10-year, $880 million courthouse building program. Read the full editorial here.
Kentucky attorney general sides with Eastern Kentucky student newspaper in request to open campus police records
September 8, 2008: Editors of the Eastern Progress, student newspaper for Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond, scored a victory for open records in an appeal to the Kentucky attorney general that challenged the university's redaction of information from campus police reports.
The Kentucky attorney general agreed with the Progress' argument that the university had overstepped the law in redacting or removing addresses and other personal information from campus police department reports obtained by the Progress through a Freedom of Information Act request. Read the full article here.
Transportation Cabinet holds conflict of interest report
August 30, 2008: The state Transportation Cabinet yesterday declined to release a report raising questions about possible conflicts of interest of two of its high-ranking officials who resigned last week.
The report is part of an ongoing investigation, and records of such investigations are not subject to release until the investigation is complete, according to a letter from the cabinet's Office of Legal Services. Read the full article here.
Progress wins open records appeal
August 28, 2008: Near the end of last semester, the Progress staff got fed up with vast quantities of black ink clouding the police reports we received from the Eastern police department every week. The reports were so heavily redacted we couldn't list names in the police beat without running the risk of libeling someone.
We had to figure out how to end the unnecessary redactions without delaying information to our readers. Read the full article here.
Court: 62 UofL Foundation Donors To Stay Anonymous
August 22, 2008: Future donors to the University of Louisville's fundraising arm won't enjoy any veil of secrecy, the Kentucky Supreme Court has ruled.
Nevertheless, 62 anonymous donors who have previously given to the University of Louisville Foundation and specifically requested anonymity will be allowed to remain anonymous, a divided high court ruled Thursday. The case was part of an open records dispute between the school and The Courier-Journal of Louisville. Read the full article here.
U of L grant checks end up in local bank
August 6, 2008: Three checks totaling $450,000 — money that former University of Louisville education dean Robert Felner said was intended to pay for research — instead ended up being deposited in a Louisville bank, records show.
The records, which The Courier-Journal obtained in an open-records request, don’t identify who deposited or endorsed the checks. Read the full article here.
Public Agencies Send Notices Via E-mail
July 30, 2008: Public agencies can now send notice of special meetings to agency members and media organizations by e-mail, according to a law passed July 15.
If an agency member of media outlet prefers to receive the notification via e-mail, a written request should be sent to the public agency holding the meeting. Read the full article here.
Contractor: Make arena bidding records public
July 15, 2008: After reading articles regarding the process of awarding contracts for the city arena, I have to ask the obvious question: Why shouldn't publicly funded projects be subject to public inspection and other public procurement laws? Read the rest of this column here.
Release of downtown arena bids sought
July 11, 2008: A Louisville construction company that failed to land a contract on the city's downtown arena claims project leaders have flip-flopped on a promise to make subcontractor bids open to the public.
RAM Engineering & Construction's allegations, sent this week to the Kentucky Finance and Administration Cabinet, follow construction manager M.A. Mortenson Co.'s decision to keep contract proposals and details confidential. Read the full article here.
School Spending and Respect for the Law
April 29, 2008: Kentucky’s constitution requires that the General Assembly conclude its business before the stroke of midnight on April 15. However, the Legislature took the extraordinary step of stopping the clocks during this year’s session in order to complete business ... Full Story
