PORT ANGELES — Providing public records is one of government’s core duties and one of the three practical controls on government along with elections and lawsuits, an assistant state attorney general said at a public access forum at Peninsula College on Thursday.
The forum was prepared by the Washington Coalition for Open Government, Peninsula College’s journalism department and four North Olympic Peninsula newspapers, including the Peninsula Daily News.
Greg Overstreet, special assistant attorney general for government accountability, said he is Attorney General Rob McKenna’s ombudsman for public records, a new position which shows how important this issue is to McKenna.
Open public records is the most universally agreed-upon political issue, whether the person is a Republican, Democrat or nonpartisan, Overstreet said.
Open records legislation in the just-completed legislative session passed unanimously in both the state House and Senate, he said.
Overstreet, who was a member of a four-person panel on access to public documents, said the best guideline for public agencies when it comes to public records is: “When in doubt, give it out.”
Another panelist, Seattle attorney Michele Earl-Hubbard, 2005 coalition president, said the incentive for public agencies to comply with public records requests isn’t the $5 a day fine that is imposed for noncompliance.
It’s having to pay her attorney fees if the agency is found in violation, Earl-Hubbard said, adding that she charges $295 an hour.
But the loss of public confidence and suspicion that something is being hidden often is even more damaging than whatever is contained in the document, Earl-Hubbard said.
‘Overbroad’ requests
Seattle attorney Judith Endejan, another panelist and a coalition board member, said a recent state Supreme Court ruling that allowed denial of “overbroad” public records requests was fixed by recent legislation.
More troubling is the expansion of the attorney-client privilege, which actually is a rather narrow exemption, she said.
Overstreet said if an agency receives a large public records request, new legislation allows those records to be released in installments.
Often the person will find what he is seeking without getting all the records requested, he said.
Endejan said unfortunately people abuse the system but agencies still must work with those people on their requests.
Jack Westerman, a panelist and Jefferson County assessor, noted the increased number of public documents on the Internet, and how those details might conflict with privacy issues.
Westerman said his office was getting so many requests for its compact disks that all the information finally was put on the Internet.
Property ownership information can be looked up by parcel number or address but specifically not by name, Westerman said.
The reason is protecting privacy and preventing use of the information for commercial purposes, he said.
Changing attitudes
David Cullier, a research assistant for AccessNorthwest at Washington State University and a former newspaper reporter and editor, said attitudes towards open public records fluctuate.
Support for open records is greater now than before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, he said.
The biggest concerns with public records are privacy and the ease of access provided by the Internet, Cullier said.
Two-thirds of the state’s counties support putting public records online but the others object to “jammy surfers,” he said.
Those are the people in their pajamas at 2 a.m. looking up all the details of their neighbors’ divorce, he said.
But government officials are becoming more willing to put public records online, he said.
State auditor
State Auditor Brian Sonntag, who like Cullier was a panelist during a discussion of open government meetings, said legislation was proposed four years ago to require the tape recording of executive sessions, with that record available only for review by attorneys in a court case.
But it met virulent opposition from public officials as did a second proposal to have someone take minutes in the executive session.
The four-hour forum, to which elected and appointed government representatives were invited, was held in the Peninsula College Little Theater.
Co-sponsors included the Peninsula Daily News, Port Townsend-Jefferson County Leader, Sequim Gazette and Forks Forum.
Also participating were retired state Supreme Court Chief Justice James A. Andersen, a pioneer of public access legislation when he was a state senator from suburban King County, Clallam County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Chris Melly, and Seattle attorney Marshall Nelson.