Nevada Supreme Court to Decide if Governor's E-mails are Public

The Nevada Supreme Court heard arguments Monday whether to overturn a lower court's ruling that Governor Jim Gibbons does not have to produce e-mails kept on the state e-mail system that are personal in nature.

The Reno Newspapers argued that the e-mails on the governor's state-issued e-mail account is subject to Nevada's Open Records law. A reporter for the Reno Gazette-Journal had requested e-mail communications between Gibbons and 10 persons for the period before January and June 2008.

Read more about the case here.

Nev. AG rules governor's personal e-mails aren't public

The Nevada attorney general's office decided that personal e-mails on Gov. Jim Gibbons' state computer are not pubic records, the AP reported. Reno Newspapers Inc. is seeking all e-mails Gibbons sent on his state computer and asked for a log of recipients, senders, subject matters and reasons public access was denied. The brief from the AG's office said the state has "no pre-litigation duty" to create the requested index.

The Nevada attorney general's office says personal e-mails on Gov. Jim Gibbons' state computer are not public records.

In a Nevada Supreme Court brief, the AG's office says personal messages or those not concerning public business are not subject to a public records request.

The filing is in response to an appeal by Reno Newspapers Inc., which is seeking all e-mails sent by Gibbons on his state computer from January to June 2008.

More here.

Nevada cites FERPA to redact NCAA violations data

Nevada athletics director Cary Groth agrees that FERPA could be updated so that it's clearer. Nevada provided all information requested except data regarding violations in the Columbus Dispatch investigative story regarding NCAA programs. Legal counsel advised the athletic department not to release this information in the midst of the NCAA investigation into a 2007 whistleblower complaint. The Reno-Gazette Journal had also asked for information on the whistleblower complaint through three FOI requests. The university provided the data but cited FERPA and redacted student-athlete names and cited personnel matters exemptions for redacting the names of coaches and administrators.

Nevada athletics director Cary Groth said she was surprised to learn about the wide range of interpretations of FERPA -- the Family Educational Rights & Privacy Act -- and that she agreed with the law's writer that it needs to be revamped.

"I was kind of surprised there was such a variance of openness," Groth said, reacting to an investigative story by the Columbus Dispatch in Ohio that reported that many of the 119 FBS (formerly Division I-A) schools use the 1974 federal law improperly in an effort to keep their NCAA troubles secret. "In the article it talks about bringing (the law) in and looking at it again. That would be very helpful, to identify what we can and what we can't release.

"To hide behind the law when you shouldn't, I think that's wrong."

More here.

Newspaper sues to learn if governor's permit was suspended

The Nevada Supreme Court heard argument on whether information related to Gov. Jim Gibbons' concealed gun permit should be released to the Reno Gazette-Journal, the Las Vegas Sun reported. Gibbons said he doesn't carry a concealed gun but has a permit. He surrendered his license in January of last year after a delay in getting the required training to carry one of his guns. He says no disciplinary action was taken, but a reporter heard that his weapon permit might have been suspended or revoked.

Gov. Jim Gibbons said today he never carries a concealed gun, even though he has a permit to do so.

And he said he once surrendered his weapons permit but he was never disciplined.

The Nevada Supreme Court has heard arguments on whether the Reno Gazette-Journal was entitled to information that may show the weapons permit of Gibbons was revoked or suspended. A district court has ruled the newspaper is not entitled to that information.

More here.

Nev. legislators urged to conduct business in public

The Nevada Legislature is exempt from state open meetings laws, but the Nevada Freedom of Information Coalition is hoping legislators will transcend the law in favor of transparency, San Jose Mercury News reported. The group is asking lawmakers to sign a pledge committing themselves to stronger open government laws and will post who does and does not sign the agreement.

An open government group on Thursday urged legislators to support greater transparency in government and to conduct more state business in public.

Nevada Freedom of Information Coalition president Thomas Mitchell said the group is asking state lawmakers to sign a pledge committing themselves to supporting stronger open meeting and public information laws, and to encouraging better online access to legislative votes and data on state spending.

"This is the public's right to know. If you're going to be citizen, if you're going to vote, if you're going to be involved, you need to know what's going on." Mitchell, the editor of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, said at a news conference. "Otherwise, we're left in the dark, we're left to guess, we're left to rely on leaks."

More here.

So much for transparency in the Nev. governor's office

Not only was the Reno Gazette-Journal denied e-mail records it requested from Gov. Jim Gibbons, it was also told it would have to take the government's word for it that the records are confidential. The newspaper's request for an itemized list of the e-mails was turned down.

A judge on Wednesday denied the bulk of a Reno Gazette-Journal lawsuit seeking access to Gov. Jim Gibbons' e-mail records, holding that most of the correspondence is confidential under Nevada law.

Carson City District Judge Todd Russell also denied the newspaper's request for an itemized list of the e-mail records so it could independently assess whether the correspondence fell under the state's public records law.

Russell told Gibbons to release six of 104 emails that were reviewed in private by a court master to determine whether they were public. The court master, Dave Nielsen said the rest were personal, of a non-public "transitory nature" or privileged.

More here.