One Year and Waiting... Palin's Emails Still Not Produced

Records requests for Sarah Palin's emails made by the Alaska Democratic Party remain unfilled, even though it's been more than a year since the request.  

Alaska officials say they are working on the large request, which requires lawyers to review each email to determine if it should be withheld for privacy concerns or to protect the "deliberative process," an executive privilege granted to the governor and close advisers.  

More here. 

Documents being withheld based on privilege

From the Tacoma News Tribune:

Washington’s open records law is far from absolute. Over the years, lawmakers have granted more than 300 exceptions to its broad mandate for public disclosure.

But the common theme among most of those exemptions is that they reside explicitly in state law. Government agencies and citizens may not always agree on whether an exemption should apply, but at least they are both reading from the same page.

Not so with the nebulous “privilege” invoked by the Legislature and governor. In at least three publicized instances this year – and perhaps more lesser-known ones – the legislative and executive branches have claimed an immunity that appears nowhere in statute.

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Wash. organization asks governor's office to reconsider records denial

The Evergreen Freedom Foundation of Washington is asking Gov. Gregoire to reconsider the decision to deny releasing documents related to the governor's executive order concerning climate change. The EFF requested all documents related to the executive order's drafting and implementation, but the governor's office is withholding 48 documents and citing "executive privilege" and "deliberative process" as reasons. However, the EFF says there's no "executive privilege" exemption in the Public Records Act, and because the executive order has already been published the "deliberative" exemption doesn't apply.

Does the governor's executive privilege exempt her from the state's Public Records Act? Looks like we'll find out.

Climate change was a hot topic during the 2009 legislative session. Gov. Gregoire had requested legislation that ultimately died in the Senate. Not to be stopped, the governor issued Executive Order 09-05 to address climate change. Curious to see the backstory, EFF filed a request for documents related to the executive order's drafting and implementation. We've received many records, but the governor's office has refused to release 48 documents. The denial cites several reasons, including "executive privilege" and "deliberative process."

There's a problem with this denial. There is no "executive privilege" exemption in the Public Records Act. And once the executive order was published the "deliberation" exemption no longer applies. (This isn't the first time Gov. Gregoire has claimed the phantom "executive privilege" exemption.)

More here.

Jindal approves failure of La. public records bill

A Louisiana House bill that would have removed an exemption that allows executive staff of the governor's office to keep records private failed 12-5, the Times-Picayune reported. Gov. Bobby Jindal's administration says it's not the concepts but the details that he disagrees with. His administration says it will back a similar Senate bill which provides more shielding on certain records.

With the backing of Gov. Bobby Jindal, a House committee killed a bill that would have opened nearly all records of the governor's executive office to public inspection, a move that the legislative sponsor said would bring real transparency to a state that touts the concept.

A similar bill passed overwhelmingly out of the same panel last year with little fanfare, far from the 12-5 defeat that Rep. Wayne Waddell, R-Shreveport, suffered today. Last year, his bill languished much later in the session after the Jindal administration got more active, saying it supports increased access to records but not in the manner Waddell wants.

The vote came a few hours after the Jindal administration effectively delayed action on another bill that would have expanded disclosure about the correlation between the governor's campaign contributors and his appointees to public posts. As with the records bill, the administration says the disagreement is not in the concept but in the details.

More here.

Obama reaffirms one of Bush's state security privileges

Several judges for the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals were shocked when Obama's administration agreed with the Bush administration's handling of a "case involving rendition and torture," The New York Times reported. It was argued that the state secret privilege was for national security reasons, prompting anger from the ACLU.

In a closely watched case involving rendition and torture, a lawyer for the Obama administration seemed to surprise a panel of federal appeals judges on Monday by pressing ahead with an argument for preserving state secrets originally developed by the Bush administration.

In the case, Binyam Mohamed, an Ethiopian native, and four other detainees filed suit against a subsidiary of Boeing for arranging flights for the Bush administration’s “extraordinary rendition” program, in which terrorism suspects were secretly taken to other countries, where they say they were tortured. The Bush administration argued that the case should be dismissed because even discussing it in court could threaten national security and relations with other nations.

During the campaign, Mr. Obama harshly criticized the Bush administration’s treatment of detainees, and he has broken with that administration on questions like whether to keep open the prison camp at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. But a government lawyer, Douglas N. Letter, made the same state-secrets argument on Monday, startling several judges on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

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Exec Privilege Argument Rejected in New Jersey Gov E-Mail Case

A judge on Friday ordered Gov. Jon S. Corzine to publicly release hundreds of e-mail messages he exchanged with a state union leader he once dated.

In his ruling, Judge Paul Innes of State Superior Court said the messages were public records.

The decision is a blow to Mr. Corzine, who wanted to keep private the e-mail messages he exchanged with Carla Katz, a former companion, during state worker contract talks in 2006 and 2007.

“The relationship created a clear potential for conflict,” Judge Innes wrote. “These types of communications would be the sort of communications the Supreme Court felt the public had the right of access to understand and evaluate the reasonableness of the public body’s actions.”

Tom Wilson, the New Jersey Republican Party chairman, sued to make the e-mail messages public, contending that the personal relationship could have affected negotiations.

Mr. Corzine, a Democrat, contends that the e-mail messages are private under privileges accorded governors.

More here.