The Capitol Building is seen on the night of Monday, Jan. 8, 2018 in Olympia.
On the face of it, a state task force convened to address this year’s conflict over public records between the Washington state Legislature and the media sounds like a good idea.
But to us at The Chronicle, it feels a little less like a solution, and more like a red herring — a distraction from the real issue at hand. Washington already has a robust public records law, and a Thurston County Superior Court judge ruled that it is binding on state legislators.
So what more is there to talk about?
Washington’s legislature has long maintained that the state’s Public Records Act, passed in 1972, applies to every government agency in the state except for itself. However, Washington media organizations banded together early this year and challenged that assertion, and a Thurston County Superior Court Judge ruled that the Legislature needed to abide by its own laws.
Rather than follow the ruling, legislators tried to do an end-run around the court and hastily passed a bill retroactively exempting themselves from the PRA.
Gov. Jay Inslee vetoed the bill, which was widely panned by the media and members of the public, and many of the legislators who cast “yes” votes later claimed they never liked the bill anyway.
So next month, a task force made up of legislators, media representatives, the Coalition for Open Government and members of the public is due to start meeting in an effort to negotiate a peace, basically.
“We will convene a task force including the public, the media, open government groups and legislators to develop recommendations on public records for the 2019 legislature,” a March statement from the Washington House Democrats reads. “We are hopeful we can bring all parties together to improve transparency while protecting constituent privacy.”
Constituent privacy. Let’s talk about that. Legislators argued that they can’t follow the Public Records Act because it would require them to out whistleblowers and violate the privacy of their constituents who send them letters and emails.
According to the Municipal Research and Services Center, the Public Records Act already allows for records to be withheld if the information is “highly offensive to a reasonable person,” or not of legitimate concern to the public. The PRA also exempts personal information “in files maintained for employees, appointees or elected officials of any public agency to the extent that disclosure would violate their right to privacy,” medical records, student and public agencies’ client records, investigative reports and others, according to the MRSC.
As for whistleblowers — they are already protected by the state’s Whistleblower Act.
If a reporter or member of the public requests a document containing such information, legislators already have legal recourse to fight it.
It’s worth noting that small-town governments also receive communications from constituents and whistleblowers potentially covered by the PRA — but the Legislature isn’t worried about them.
Again, why do we need a task force to hash out what has already been state law for 46 years?
We at The Chronicle are also concerned about the much-publicized quote from task force member Rep. Matt Shea, R-Spokane, who recently called journalists “dirty, godless, hateful people.”
Last week, the newsroom got a call from a man insisting that journalists are the enemy of, maybe not all Americans, but certainly those who voted for President Trump.
Journalists are getting a worse rap than usual lately, but let’s be clear, we at The Chronicle aren’t out to get anyone. We don’t play games or set traps. We don’t care who you voted for. We don’t write fake news.
We care about one thing — our readers’ right to know what is going on in their community, and that includes what their elected officials are up to, good or bad. Period.
The PRA allows us to do that work, and we’ll continue to oppose any effort to weaken or evade it.
