Governor, Secretary of State, Attorney General flaunt public records law;
Have not completed records request for eight months
COLUMBUS - Three years ago this week, Ohio newspapers announced the results of a public records "audit," where citizens tested public offices' response to public records requests. The failure of many offices to follow the law made front page news in dozens of newspapers. Last summer, the Ohio Republican Party conducted a similar experiment with Democrat officeholders. Only one - State Treasurer Richard Cordray - followed the law and made the records available in a timely manner. The others have yet to completely fulfill the request - a clear violation of Ohio law.
"Ohio newspapers were appropriately outraged in 2005 when local government offices didn't follow the public records law," Ohio Republican Party Chairman Bob Bennett said. "They should be equally outraged now that the Governor Strickland, Secretary of State Brunner, and Attorney General Dann have all violated the public records law - especially since they all claim to be in favor of transparency and open government."
In Sunday's Columbus Dispatch, Attorney General Marc Dann was quoted as saying "State government for a decade was focused on how not to comply with the public-records law. What we're finding is, as we open the door, we're making compliance more of a reality." Dann's own public records policy states "All records must be organized and maintained so that they are readily available for inspection and copying. Public records must be made available for inspection promptly." (Randy Ludlow, "Access to Public Records is ‘Mixed Bag' in Ohio," Columbus Dispatch, 3/16/07)
Last July, a graduate student made a very specific public records request (in writing, by certified mail) asking the Governor, Treasurer, Secretary of State, and Attorney General for emails between certain staffers on certain dates. In less than two weeks, she received CDs of the requested records from the Treasurer. Now - eight months later - she has yet to have the records request completely fulfilled by the other offices. The excuses given were laughable:
- The Governor demanded payment of up to $50,000 and said it would take up to two years to comply.
- The Secretary of State claimed to not know what records were being requested (despite the fact that the request specified staffers by name and gave precise dates for the emails).
- The Attorney General has made similar spurious claims and only provided a small amount of records.
Over the last several weeks, Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner (with the legal help of Attorney General Dann) has attempted to shield court deposition records from the public eye. The Supreme Court stopped her from doing so.
"Sunshine Week is an opportunity for these officeholders to live up to their commitments to open government," Bennett concluded. "They should release all of the public records that have been requested and apologize to Ohioans for violating the law."
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