Washington transparency headlines
From Sunshine Review
This article is a list of transparency related news from Washington.
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The Washington project on Sunshine Review
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Records show property worth millions missing from local schools
November 17, 2008: They cost taxpayers millions: Desktop computers, laptops, printers, scanners, digital cameras, camcorders, LCD projectors and interactive white boards.
They're supposed to be in the classroom, but thousands of pieces of high tech equipment are missing from our local schools. And no one can tell the Problem Solvers - or parents - where they are.
We used public records laws to get inventory reports for the Puget Sound area's largest school districts. We spent weeks analyzing the data, and our investigation determined nearly 9,500 items purchased with your tax dollars have disappeared.Read the full article here.
Change Washington law to open government
November 16, 2008: The state Legislature should blow away the clouds gathering over open-government practices in recent years and follow the clear recommendation of its own so-called Sunshine Committee.
Officially known as the Public Records Accountability Executive Committee, the panel voted 7-3 Wednesday, urging the Legislature to pass legislation to raise the shades on what has become a state Supreme Court-condoned practice of excessively hiding information from the public. Read the full article here.
Washington, Idaho rank far apart on openness
November 14, 2008: A new national survey ranks Washington fourth in the nation for governmental integrity, openness and accountability – and Idaho 44th.
The survey, conducted by the Chicago-based Better Government Association, compared open records laws, open meeting laws, whistleblower laws, campaign finance requirements and conflict-of-interest laws, to create a government “integrity index.” Read the full article here.
Restrict legal exemptions
November 13, 2008: The state's Sunshine Committee agreed Wednesday that the Legislature should curb the use of attorney-client privilege to block disclosure of public records held by government agencies.
Members of the committee, led by Attorney General Rob McKenna, voted 7-3 to ask the Legislature to return the state's law to a policy that they think was common before two state Supreme Court rulings in 2004 and 2007.
Activists with the Washington Coalition for Open Government want a rule that lets state and local governments in Washington exempt legal advice and related documents from disclosure only if the information is relevant to a pending lawsuit — in other words, a live controversy. Read the full article here.
Good advice on public records – if lawmakers will listen
November 13, 2008: Listen up, lawmakers: The Sunshine Committee you created to review hundreds of public disclosure exceptions has some good advice.
On Wednesday, the committee endorsed closing the loopholes the state Supreme Court has created in recent years that allow government to evade public scrutiny by lawyering up.
The recommendation, passed by a 7-3 majority that included House Majority Leader Lynn Kessler, essentially advocates enforcing the public disclosure law as it is written. Read the full editorial here.
Franklin finds path between legitimate, pest records requests
November 4, 2008: Franklin County officials are among the latest local government officials to try their hand at putting together a public records request policy that walks that fine line between dealing with pests and protecting the public's right to access records.
"We would prefer to focus our time and energy on public record requests other than (ones from) felons," Prosecutor Steve Lowe said last week during a workshop called to discuss proposals for standardizing procedures for accommodating public records requests. Franklin County's current policies vary from department to department. Read the full article here.
Investigators: Did Bellevue break the law in push to pass parks levy?
October 22, 2008: A lot of voters are being asked to approve new taxes for their communities in November. But one thing cities can't do is use tax dollars to help convince voters to say yes. It's against state law.
Yet the KING 5 Investigators have uncovered evidence that Bellevue has done exactly that in its determination to get a new parks levy passed. Read the full article here.
Paper asks Supreme Court to review ruling
October 11, 2008: The Yakima Herald-Republic has asked the state's highest court to review a local ruling that keeps secret the taxpayer-financed costs of defending a man convicted of aggravated first-degree murder.
At issue is how $1.5 million was spent to defend Jose "Junior" Sanchez who was convicted of killing a 21-year-old man and the man's 3-year-old daughter in 2005. He is serving life without parole.
The records of spending were sealed when prosecutors were considering the death penalty and have remained sealed.
The newspaper contends the records should be open under the state's Public Records Act.Read the full article here.
Franklin County judge changes order decision in Parmelee records case
October 4, 2008: Three months after blocking the release of 39 public records of Franklin County jail employees, a judge Friday changed his order and agreed to review the documents at the request of a convicted arsonist.
Superior Court Judge Cameron Mitchell gave Franklin County prosecutors until Nov. 3 to submit the records so he can determine if they should be made public or are exempt under the Washington Public Records Act. Mitchell also may consider redacting specific information in the documents. Read the full article here.
Sun Public Records Request Prompts Two Lawsuits
September 19, 2008: Separate lawsuits have been filed over the release of a list revealing all Kitsap County employees' hometowns, according to Kitsap County Superior Court documents.
Following a Kitsap Sun public records request, the Kitsap County Prosecuting Attorney's Guild and the Kitsap County Deputy Sheriff's Guild filed suit against Kitsap County to bar the release of the hometowns of employees to the newspaper. Read the full article here.
The price of information too much for some
September 17, 2008: Since the state Open Government Act became law in 1973, citizens have been able to obtain information with relative ease from their governments.
In Bainbridge Island, the amount of requests is astoundingly high in relation to other comparable cities and the amount of time and money it takes to fulfill these requests are becoming more burdensome, claim city officials. Read the full article here.
Toledo man loses Thurston County court public records lawsuit
September 16, 2008: A public records lawsuit to obtain documents from the Thurston County court system was dismissed in Grays Harbor Superior Court Monday.
Judge David Edwards ruled state public records laws do not apply to the judicial branch and could not be used to sue for access to public records.
“It simply cannot withstand the legal challenges,” he said of the lawsuit. Read the full article here.
Washington Supreme Court closes records of 'unsubstantiated' sexual misconduct accusations against teachers
September 16, 2008: Educators are cheering a recent Washington Supreme Court opinion that they see as upholding privacy rights, but others believe it makes investigating sexual abuse cases in schools more difficult.
The State's high court ruled 6-3 that school districts are not obligated under state public disclosure laws to release the names of teachers accused of sexual misconduct with students but whose cases had been declared unsubstantiated. Read the full article here.
Western State chief apparently forced out
September 4, 2008: When the chief executive of Western State Hospital left his post, a state spokesman indicated Andrew J. Phillips had gone willingly. Now public records obtained by a newspaper indicate he was forced out.
According to the The Tacoma News Tribune, the records show the 65-year-old Phillips was handed a settlement agreement on Aug. 8 and given 15 minutes to sign it and resign, or be fired. Read the full article here.
Mesa's court defeat is case for better training
September 3, 2008: Ouch.
A Superior Court judge's ruling that little town of Mesa must pay its former mayor $230,000 is no slap on the wrist.
The award amounts to more than two-thirds of the city's general fund. That's got to spell financial ruin for the town unless its insurance covers the fine. Read the full article here.
Sonics fight cost city $2.9 million
August 28, 2008: They paid $2.3 million in attorney's fees, $61,296 for an expert witness who bombed on the stand and $17,000 to the Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce, but in the end, the city of Seattle came out ahead financially in its lawsuit against the Sonics' Oklahoma-based ownership group led by Clay Bennett. Read the full article here.
Oberquell records request called 'exceptional'
August 26, 2008: Thurston County Commissioner Diane Oberquell sent a state agency one of the biggest public records requests ever filed, costing the agency an estimated $9,000 for 300 hours of staff time and about $500 for printing almost 10,000 pages of documents.
Oberquell, acting as a private citizen, filed the request Feb. 9. She asked the office of state Attorney General Rob McKenna for records, e-mails and other documents that mention a failed bill in the state Legislature that would have required county commissioners to tape their closed-door executive sessions. Oberquell testified Feb. 5 against the bill. Read the full article here.
$140,000 paid out in probe of Everett teacher
August 17, 2008: The Everett School District has spent more than $140,000 investigating an underground high school newspaper and the teacher who disobeyed orders in support of the student journalists.
Most of the money was paid to Perkins Coie, a Seattle law firm, which billed the district more than $113,000 from February 2007 through mid-May of this year, according to heavily redacted billing records provided to The Herald under a public records request. Read the full article here.
Bicyclist sues State Patrol over open records access
August 15, 2008: Seattle attorney Mickey Gendler set out on Oct. 28, 2007, for a bike ride around the south end of Lake Washington. The avid cyclist had planned for a relaxing half-day ride, but an accident on the Montlake Bridge upended his life.
As Gendler, 56, continues rigorous physical therapy to regain his motor skills, he wants to know how many other bicyclists have been ensnared by seams in the bridge's surface. But when he tried to use the state's open records laws to see all accident reports involving bicyclists on the bridge, the State Patrol denied his request, according to a lawsuit filed this month in Thurston County Superior Court. Read the full article here.
Teacher privacy ruling a dangerous misstep
August 4, 2008: The state Supreme Court has created another exemption to Washington’s Public Records Act — one that could put children at greater risk of sexual abuse. On Thursday, the court ruled 6-3 that the names of public school teachers under investigation for sexual misconduct can be kept secret. Read the full editorial here.
Unsubstantiated accusations in the Internet age
August 3, 2008: Two huge legal principles clashed in last week's Washington Supreme Court decision holding that the privacy rights of teachers trump public disclosure in cases where allegations of sexual misconduct were unsubstantiated. The case, Bellevue John Does 1-11 v. Bellevue Sch. Dist. No. 405, resulted in a 6-3 split on the court. Read the full article here.
Judge agrees to unseal records of costly murder trial
August 1, 2008: A Yakima County judge on Friday agreed to unseal some of the billing records in a double-murder case that cost taxpayers more than $2 million in spending by court-appointed defense attorneys. Read the full article here.
Port officials at fault on open records issue
August 1, 2008: Port of Olympia officials rightfully complain about the lawsuits brought against the port that delay economic development, such as Weyerhaeuser's planned log export facility.
In many cases, the lawsuits are frivolous.
But sometimes port officials bring on their own trouble. When they deny access to public records and when judges rule against them, it's time for port officials to embrace the letter and the spirit of the Open Public Records Act and turn over documents. Read the full column here.
WA court protects identities of some teachers
July 31, 2008: Identities of public school teachers who face unsubstantiated allegations of sexual misconduct can be kept secret to protect the educators' privacy, the state Supreme Court ruled Thursday.
The 6-3 ruling partially reversed a state Court of Appeals ruling that those identities must be disclosed under the state's Public Records Act, unless the allegations of misconduct were clearly false. Read the full article here.
Port told to release files
July 24, 2008: After it takes final action, a public agency can't withhold records pertaining to that decision, the state Court of Appeals has ruled in a victory for open-government advocates.
Four South Sound residents — Eve Johnson, Walter Jorgensen, David Koenig and Arthur West — appealed a judge's decision that the Port of Olympia can withhold hundreds of pages of records related to its lease negotiations with Weyerhaeuser. The public agency had argued negotiations were preliminary and therefore exempt from disclosure under state law. Read the full article here.
Puyallup aims to do better on public records inquiries
July 21, 2008: Puyallup is changing its approach to public records requests following a News Tribune analysis that found the city was the slowest among local agencies to respond to requests in 2007.
City spokeswoman Glenda Carino said part of why Puyallup’s numbers came out so low is because it didn’t have a system of logging public records requests and staff responses to those requests. Read the full article here.
Port of Tacoma Improves Access To Public Information
July 20, 2008: The Port of Tacoma's new records manager says that he and the port staff are trying to make Tacoma more transparent and comprehensible to the public by making it easier to access public documents. So far this year, port employees have spent some 1,360 hours responding to requests for public records. Those hours were devoted to fewer than 30 requests, equating to an average of 45 hours per request. Read the full article here.
So-called Sunshine
July 14, 2008: The view from the state's Sunshine Committee is looking overcast after its latest meeting to review exemptions to the state's public-records law.
At issue is whether the committee should recommend legislation to fix the law after disastrous state Supreme Court rulings expanded government's ability to cite attorney-client privilege in rejecting public records requests. Read the full editorial here.
Paralegal wages 'sunshine' battle
July 11, 2008: A scruffy paralegal in an ill-fitting suit faced down a row of establishment lawyers in Superior Court on Friday, demanding access to the records of an association representing municipal interests and largely funded by tax dollars.
Arthur West, 47, of Olympia is a gadfly representing himself in the case, doing battle with an experienced legal team that includes a member of the Washington State Sunshine Committee, tasked with eliminating exemptions to the public records act. Read the full article here.
WA court: public records can be kept from inmates
July 3, 2008: Prisoners are entitled to government records, but jailers can keep those records from actually reaching an inmate's hands if the information is deemed illegal contraband, a divided state Supreme Court ruled Thursday.
The 5-4 ruling could have broader implications for the way officials treat Public Records Act requests from people behind bars in Washington. Read the full story here.
Ruling keeps attorney billing records sealed
July 1, 2008: Ruling on a lawsuit filed by the Yakima Herald-Republic, a judge refused to unseal attorney billing records from a possible death penalty case that has cost Yakima County taxpayers just over $2 million.
In a five-page decision released Monday, Kittitas County Superior Court Judge Michael Cooper held that the documents sought by the newspaper are court records, not county records, and as a result, Washington State's Public Records Act does not apply in the case. Read the full story here.
Convicted arsonist seeks data on Franklin County jail workers
June 27, 2008: A convicted arsonist who has inundated government agencies across the state with hundreds of public records requests now wants personal information on all Franklin County jail employees.
He claims that under the Washington Public Records Act he should have access to staff photos, training records, performance evaluations, complaints and grievances and work phone numbers.
Parmelee is known statewide for abusing sunshine laws to embarrass and harass judges, lawyers and corrections officers. He recently prompted Attorney General Rob McKenna to say the state open public records law does not extend to incarcerated felons. Read the full story here.
YH-R files public records lawsuit against Yakima County
June 21, 2008: The Yakima Herald-Republic on Friday sued Yakima County for records of how more than $2 million was spent by attorneys acting as public defenders for two men charged with a pair of 2005 murders.
The records were sealed by Yakima County Superior Court Judge James Lust, and the newspaper's request that the county hand them over was denied by county Prosecutor Ron Zirkle on the grounds he couldn't defy Lust's order. The lawsuit claims that denial violates the state Public Records Act. Read the full story here.
Prosser businessman, city in court over public records
June 11, 2008: "Businessman Larry Loges' fight with the city of Prosser over public records continued Tuesday in Benton County Superior Court.
Judge Cameron Mitchell heard arguments from attorneys on both sides, asking him to make a summary decision in their favor on Loges' 2007 lawsuit against the city.
Loges, who owns a mobile home park in Prosser, claims the city improperly filled, delayed or ignored 41 of his public records requests in 2006." Read the full story here.
Wash AG says felons have no right to public records
June 11, 2008: Felons who have not had their civil rights restored should not have the same rights to public records that others have, Washington Attorney General Rob McKenna says.
McKenna makes the assertion in a friend-of-the-court brief that is to be filed with the state Court of Appeals in a case concerning an imprisoned arsonist who's been trying to dig up information on the judges, lawyers and corrections officers who helped put him behind bars.
