NFOIC awards Knight FOI Fund litigation grant in New Mexico public records suit

from NFOIC.org:

A weekly newspaper in New Mexico has been awarded a litigation grant from the Knight FOI Fund to press a legal action against a state college for disregarding basic requirements of that state's "sunshine law."

The $11,000 grant to the Rio Grande Sun newspaper was announced by the National Freedom of Information Coalition (NFOIC), which administers the Fund that was created by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. The grant was the first awarded for a New Mexico case since the Fund was established.

The award was made to defray the Rio Grande Sun's legal costs in a lawsuit brought against the Board of Regents and administration of Northern New Mexico College, a four-year, state-supported institution that has campuses in Española, NM, and El Rito, NM.

According to the complaint filed in Rio Arriba County District Court, the college has for more than six months ignored and rebuffed reporter Louis Mattei's requests for records, disregarding the New Mexico Inspection of Public Record Act's disclosure requirement and even its statutory response deadlines.

"The allegations in the complaint are outrageous. This kind of blatant disregard for public disclosure laws cannot be tolerated," said Kenneth F. Bunting, executive director of the NFOIC. "The Knight FOI Fund is there to make certain that, even in tough economic times, challenges of this sort get made, and that public officials who don't understand their obligation to be forthcoming about the public's business do not get to make up their rules."

Read more here.

Missouri auditor documents open government issues

From the office of Susan Montee, Missouri State Auditor, comes a new audit summarizing "a variety of audit issues and recommendations regarding the Sunshine Law, Chapter 610, RSMo, and other issues related to meeting minutes, was compiled using audit reports issued between January 2008 and December 2009. These issues were addressed in 59 audit reports."

The issue of closed meetings, proper documentation for closed meetings, posting of meeting agendas, and public access to records are addressed in this report, as are recommendations regarding the Sunshine Law.

For more, visit the Introduction and then the complete audit report (PDF).

Proposals to Strengthen Missouri's Sunshine Law

A Missouri lawmaker has proposed two bills to strengthen the state's Sunshine Law, including a provision that would add a fine of up to $8,000 for each person found guilty of a "purposeful violation" and a $1,000 fine for "knowingly" violating the law. The proposals also includes new record-keeping standards for governmental bodies, new requirements for public notice of certain meetings, and a required training session on the state's Sunshine Law for elected or appointed officials.

Critics say Missouri's Sunshine Law "just doesn't have any teeth" as it is now.

For more on the bills, click here.

Missouri Attorney Sues City Over Open Records Request

Columbia attorney Stephen Wyse has sued the city of Columbia and the Columbia Police Department's custodian of records over an open records request. 

Wyse had requested surveillance video from the Columbia Police Department showing the police lobby and holding area to determine whether the police had inappropriately denied him access to an arrested woman who asked for a lawyer.  

In response to his Sunshine Law request for the video, the police department's custodian of records estimated the cost to be $2,739.73 and said it would take three weeks to organize more than 80 hours of digital footage. 

Wyse responded, saying the city violated the Sunshine Law by inappropriately calculating the cost and for not responding to the request timely.  He received a new estimate for $114.31, covering the cost of burning the footage to DVDs.  After paying the $114.31, Wyse again was told that his request would be honored in three weeks and after he paid the original cost estimate of $2,739.73.  

More here. 

Mo. AG says department didn't violate Sunshine Law in E. coli case

Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster says the Department of Natural Resources didn't violate open records law because no one filed a formal request for the testing results, which showed high levels of E. coli in Lake of the Ozarks, the News-Leader reported. Koster said he thinks former DNR Deputy Director Joe Bindbeutel made a "mistake" in delaying the release of the report for four weeks. Although internal DNR e-mails indicate that Bindbeutel requested a copy of the report to take to a meeting with the governor, the governor's office denies that the meeting was about E. coli. Although media requests were made for these reports, the DNR officials didn't view them as official Sunshine request.

Attorney General Chris Koster says the Department of Natural Resources didn't violate the state's open records law in delaying the release of a report showing high levels of E. coli in Lake of the Ozarks.

Koster's office has been investigating allegations that DNR violated the Sunshine Law, which is meant to give citizens and the media access to public documents upon request.

But since no one filed a formal Sunshine Law request for the monthly testing results, Koster's investigator concluded there's no evidence a law was broken.

More here.

See the full PDF of the AG's report here.

View the letter DPS sent the News-Leader requesting seven more business days to review its request for video footage from the governor's office here.

Also, AG Chris Koster: No Sunshine Law violation in E. coli-gate, St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Delayed data on E. coli at lake was wrong, not illegal, Koster says, Kansas City Star: "A DNR e-mail obtained by The Kansas City Star shows that the agency understood it had received numerous requests for test results. According to the e-mail by a DNR employee: 'In a nutshell, I have had email inquires from four reporters since May 26 and phone calls from those four plus a couple others … for information, interviews or data.'”

Koster has more work to do on E-coli scare at Lake of the Ozarks, Kansas City Star: "Specifically, Koster didn't have all the facts he needed before concluding that the DNR did not violate the Sunshine Law regarding pollution reports about the Lake of the Ozarks. Koster told a Kansas City Star reporter on Thursday that he did not know of a DNR e-mail that detailed requests for the information about E-coli levels in the lake back in late May. He said he would look into the new information, and he should."

Hawaii City Council must cancel closed-door actions

A circuit judge issued a temporary restraining order that essentially forces the Hawaii County Council to cancel a council reorganization plan that it discussed in a private meeting, the AP reported. The council will meet on Aug. 4 to rehear all measures. This order was prompted by a lawsuit filed by West Hawaii Today that alleges that the council violated the Sunshine Law by discussing the plan in private.

Members of the Hawaii County Council violated the state’s open-government law by privately discussing a council reorganization plan, a state judge said.

Circuit Judge Ronald Ibarra on July 23 issued a temporary restraining order, forbidding the council from doing business. But he delayed the start of the TRO until Aug. 5 to give the council time to rectify the situation.

The council has scheduled a special meeting for Aug. 4 to cancel the reorganization. It also plans to rehear all measures it considered after the June 16 changes went into effect.

More here.

Public health issue raises Sunshine Law questions

The Missouri Department of Natural Resources might have violated the Sunshine Law by not informing the public of a report indicating that dangerously high levels of E. coli were present in the Lake of the Ozarks, the Springfield News-Leader reported. The Lake Ozarks Water Alliance and the Lake Sun Leader newspaper had both asked for the routine reports and were denied access.

Attorney General Chris Koster's office is investigating whether the Department of Natural Resources broke the Sunshine Law by withholding a report showing dangerously high levels of E. coli in the Lake of the Ozarks to protect businesses and tourism dollars from a loss of revenue.

"Open government is in the best interest of Missouri, never more so than when concerns over public health are at issue," Koster, a Democrat, said in a statement.

DNR Director Mark Templeton said his agency turned over related documents to Koster's office Friday, but he declined to reveal their contents.

More here.

Mo. official reassigned after 'Militia' report

The director of the Missouri Information Analysis Center, which "collects intelligence from state and federal agencies to combat terrorism and criminal activity," was reassigned after a report, "The Modern Militia," mentioned third-party candidates and abortion opponents, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. Through a Sunshine Law request, the Post-Dispatch obtained 11 of the 16 reports that the center has published since its inception. Reports reveal that some unofficial sources such as Wikipedia and religionfacts.com have been relied on to target Islamic groups, anarchists, the National Socialist movement and black separatist movements.

The Missouri Highway Patrol has reassigned the director of a center that produced a report linking third-party candidates and some abortion opponents to militias.

The report, "The Modern Militia," caused a national furor last month after it was released to conservative radio commentator Alex Jones. Conservative groups and some Republicans, including Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder, expressed outrage at the report, which they said targeted conservatives.

Documents obtained by the Post-Dispatch show that extremist groups of all kinds have been the subject of reports from the Missouri Information Analysis Center since 2006. Targets of the reports include black separatist movements, Islamic groups, anarchists, the National Socialist movement and "green anarchism."

More here.

Iowa bill to rewrite Sunshine Law debated

Iowa's ombudsman said the changes made to a state bill concerning open meetings and open records move the state backward rather than forward in its level of transparency, The Des Moines Register reported. Among the controversies are amendments that would make job applications at all government agencies and all "draft" materials exemption from public records laws.

Greater secrecy in government records would result from some of the changes lawmakers have made to a bill dealing with open meetings and open records, according to the state ombudsman.

"Some of the amendments adopted last week pose a retreat from the amount of transparency and openness that currently exists in Iowa. It is just bad public policy," Ombudsman Bill Angrick wrote in a letter to key lawmakers.

If the bill is adopted, many hiring decisions would be more secret, critical information used in forming public policy would be shielded from public light, and there could be problems with the fees an agency charges for reviewing records before their release, Angrick said.

More here.

Unanswered questions remain in Missouri FOI debate

Since former Missouri Governor Matt Blunt's e-mail controversy of 18 months ago, a new e-mail retrieval system has been implemented in the governor's office but has not been expanded to other offices due to costs, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. Hundreds of public officials still maintain that e-mail is not considered public record. It's still not clear what records must be saved, said the court-appointed attorney who oversaw the Blunt investigators' final product. The problem is that the records retention act and the Sunshine Law aren't on the same page.

For 18 months, a cloud of suspicion has blocked out some of the sunshine from the second floor windows of the Missouri Capitol.

Investigators tapped by the attorney general's office tried to determine whether then-Gov. Matt Blunt and his employees were following the public accountability laws that require certain documents to be maintained as open records.

In fact, some laws were being skirted, investigators argued in their final report, which was released this month after more than a year and a half of legal wrangling and political squabbling in which Missouri's Sunshine Law became front page news.

More here.

Penn. FOI director says state is in 'new era of openness'

The York Daily Record spoke with Kim de Bourbon, executive director of the Pennsylvania Freedom of Information Coalition, in honor of Sunshine Week. In regards to the state's 2-year-old right-to-know law, De Bourbon said, "For the first time, government agencies are being told they have not followed the law in denying access to records." For example, the Office of Open Records ruled that "a secretary's tape recording of a public meeting -- even if made only for the purposes of writing up the minutes -- is a public record and accessible to the public." She hopes that fees will be addressed in the future and that agencies will start providing records online via PDFs.

As part of Sunshine Week, a national effort to raise awareness of public records, the York Daily Record/Sunday News asked Kim de Bourbon, executive director of the Pennsylvania Freedom of Information Coalition, some questions about the state's new open records law, which is 21/2 months old.

More here.

City of Venice admits Sunshine violations in settlement

In its settlement, the City of Venice, Fla. agreed to adopt measures that include a "mandatory annual training program for elected and appointed officials and a ban on the use by such officials of private e-mail accounts to conduct City business." The City will also pick up attorneys' fees.

On the eve of Sunshine Week celebrations across the nation, and after nine months of contentious litigation, the City of Venice voted today to accept a settlement agreement in a precedent- setting open government case. In the summer of 2008, activist Anthony Lorenzo and Citizens for Sunshine brought a lawsuit centering upon the deletion of e-mails and the alleged use by elected officials of liaisons, in-person meetings, and private e-mail accounts to circumvent Florida’s Government-in-the-Sunshine Law. Early in the litigation the trial judge took the unusual step of ordering a forensic examination of the home computers of the Mayor, Vice-Mayor and a Councilmember after plaintiffs’ attorneys presented evidence of widespread violations of the Public Records Law. The lawsuit later survived repeated attempts by the defendants to have the claims dismissed prior to trial, which had been scheduled to begin on February 23 before being postponed due to the proposed settlement.

Under the settlement agreement, the City admits to violations of both the Sunshine and the Public Records laws and accepts the imposition of broad remedial requirements to ensure the preservation of public records and uphold the constitutional requirement that public business be conducted in the Sunshine. The settlement also requires the City to pay substantial attorneys fees, as mandated by the Public Records and Sunshine Laws.

More here.

Missouri Roundtable for Life says Carnahan never responded to requests

Missouri Roundtable for Life says it filed three separate Sunshine Law requests and did not receive any response from Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan, KMBC-TV (Kansas City) reported. Carnahan's office, however, says it responded to two requests it received from the group, which has filed a Sunshine Law complaint against Carnahan.

Missouri Roundtable for Life (MRFL) filed a Sunshine Law complaint against Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan.

The group said the complaint was filed because Carnahan failed to respond to the three separate Sunshine Law requests made by MRFL that accompanied three new initiative petitions on Feb. 19, 2009.

Under the Sunshine Law, Carnahan is required to notify a party within three working days of how it is going about handling the Sunshine Law request.

More here.

Arguments heard in World Series ticket scandal

A St. Louis circuit judge on Thursday heard arguments for and against opening files from the city Police Department's internal investigation into officers' misuse of 2006 World Series tickets seized from scalpers.

Activist John Chasnoff filed a Sunshine Law suit in 2007 to get access to the investigative files; the Police Department has argued that the files should remain closed.

Earlier this month, Judge Philip Heagney ordered the department to provide Chasnoff with the initial complaint that sparked the investigation, saying it was clearly a public record under Missouri laws. After Thursday's hearing, Heagney said he did not know when he would issue a ruling on the investigative files. Both sides said they would appeal any decision against them.

More here.

Hartford mayor fined for violating sunshine law

After two fines for violating sunshine and freedom of information laws, a city councilman in Hartford, Conn., has proposed a Freedom of Information Advisory Board to improve compliance with state law.

If Hartford Mayor Eddie A. Perez doesn't get a better grasp of the "public" part of being a public official, it's going to keep costing him and the city.

The state Freedom of Information Commission on Wednesday ruled unanimously that Mr. Perez broke the state's sunshine law when he convened closed meetings to see if the city's major corporations would support a new arena in Hartford.

The commission fined Mr. Perez $500 and recommended that he and city corporation counsel John Rose attend a workshop on the state's freedom of information laws. This was an unusual step for the commission, but an appropriate one. The meetings of a task force initiated by the mayor to study the feasibility of a major downtown building that almost invariably will need public assistance are clearly in the public interest.

More here.

E-mail saga involving Missouri governor continues

Gov. Matt Blunt has made another attempt to dismiss a lawsuit, stemming from allegations that his office violated the Missouri Sunshine Law by deleting e-mails.

Attorneys representing Gov. Matt Blunt and Missouri's top computer officer are seeking dismissal of a lawsuit over access to the governor's office e-mails.

Blunt and information officer Dan Ross filed motions this week in Cole County Circuit Court claiming the lawsuit fails to make clear, specific allegations and fails to support its assertions. Judge Richard Callahan scheduled a hearing on the dismissal motions for Sept. 24.

Ross' attorney contends that the state information officer is not the custodian of any public record and therefore should not be named in a lawsuit seeking access to documents.

More here.