From the Idaho Press-Tribune

CANYON COUNTY — County commissioners will meet with Prosecuting Attorney John Bujak today to discuss open meeting protocol.

“I’ve had some concerns about the way some things have been put on the agendas for the commissioners meeting, and does it comply with the open meeting law,” Bujak told the Idaho Press-Tribune Sunday. “So my office put together an instructional memorandum on how to put things on the agenda for the meeting in compliance with the open meeting laws. We’ll meet (today) to just go over the memorandum and just answer any questions they might have.”

Bujak said this isn’t a case of the commissioners acting improperly in regard to open meeting laws, but rather that it is an opportunity to improve the public’s understanding of how local government works.

“We’re taking another step towards transparency,” Bujak said, noting that already commissioners meetings are recorded and any citizen can request an audio copy. “We just want to make sure to the largest degree possible that people know what county government is doing and can become involved if they want to. To me, that’s when government works best — when constituents get involved.”

Commissioner David Ferdinand said state lawmakers passed a new law last session regarding open meeting laws, “so we’ve been reviewing some of the ways we’ve had items on the calendar,” he said.

“We reviewed all that and made a few changes at (the prosecuting attorney office’s) suggestions, but we wanted to get everybody together (today) and review it.”

From the Idaho Press-Tribune

From the Rexburg Standard Journal

REXBURG — A special prosecutor will investigate the Rexburg mayor and City Council for alleged violations of Idaho’s open meeting laws.

The announcement was made in an official letter from the Madison County Prosecutor’s Office to Maria Nate, who had filed a complaint with the office regarding the Nov. 4 appointment of Mayor Richard Woodland by the Rexburg City Council.

On Wednesday the Prosecutor’s Office submitted a motion for the District Court judge to appoint a special prosecutor who will investigate the matter and make a decision.

There is no word on who the special prosecutor will be or when the investigation will begin.

On Tuesday, Nate met with Madison Chief Deputy Prosecutor Troy Evans to present evidence of the City Council violating Idaho’s open meeting law.

Nate declined to comment on the nature of evidence she presented to prosecutors so as not to tip her hand at this stage of the legal process. She did say that she was informed by Evans that there is sufficient cause to move forward with an investigation.

Evans confirmed Nate’s statement and said that while they have not decided on whether a violation did happen, there is an investigation pending.

“We found sufficient evidence that warrants the next step, which is an investigation,” said Evans.

Evans also declined to disclose the nature of the evidence as it is now a legal case pending investigation. But he did say that three or four people in addition to Nate have come forward and offered evidence regarding the alleged violations.

The Madison County Prosecutor’s Office will not be conducting the investigation to avoid any possible conflicts of interest.

The letter sent to Nate implies that conflicts of interest could be an issue because the Prosecutor’s Office works closely with the Rexburg City Council on many issues, and the Prosecutor’s Office jointly employs a deputy prosecutor with the city of Rexburg.

If the pending investigation finds that members of the City Council did violate Idaho’s open meeting law, they could each be fined up to $500.

NATE SUNDERLAND

nsunderland@uvsj.com

From the Rexburg Standard Journal

From the Idaho Press-Tribune

NAMPA, Idaho (AP) — The Idaho Attorney General’s office has told Nampa Classical Academy officials the state won’t back down from pursuing information about the charter school’s possible use of the Bible and other religious texts.

The academy is defying an order from the Idaho Public Charter School Commission to turn over the data. An Arizona-based religious liberty group that is defending the school threatened in a Wednesday letter to sue the commission if it continues to seek the information.

The Alliance Defense Fund said the school doesn’t have to hand over anything because of a federal lawsuit it filed in September against the state concerning the school’s plan to use the Bible.

The group said in the Wednesday letter that it is considering a second lawsuit against the state to determine whether the school is operating within the boundaries of state law.

But deputy attorney general Mike Gilmore told school officials in an e-mail sent Friday that the commission and its program manager, Tamara Baysinger, will continue to seek the information from the school.

“Filing suit in federal court is not a ‘Get Out (of) Jail Free’ card that exempts NCA from oversight for expenditure of tax dollars and from conducting its educational mission in accordance with state law,” Gilmore wrote in the e-mail, which was obtained by the Idaho Press-Tribune.

Charter Commission chairman Bill Goesling also had strong words for school officials, saying that the usage of religious texts would likely lead to the revocation of the school’s charter.

“If they want to use religious texts they need to be a private school,” he said. “Public funds are not available for that.”

Nampa Classical Academy acting board chairman Mike Moffett said he didn’t know if or when the school would begin using religious texts.

The school drew attention last summer when school officials said they planned to use the Bible as a primary source of teaching material, but not to teach religion. The commission told the academy it couldn’t use the Bible as an instructional text.

That led to the lawsuit filed by the Alliance Defense Fund, which argues the school has a right to use religious texts as a part of its curriculum.

The school has since denied the commission a public records request and visit to its southwest Idaho campus.

Commissioners have meanwhile identified several areas of noncompliance with state rules for charter schools and voted to send the academy notices of defect — the first step in a lengthy process that could result in closure.

In its letter to the commission on Wednesday, the Alliance Defense Fund said the commission’s reprimands of the school were “retaliation” for the first lawsuit.

From the Idaho Press-Tribune

From the Coeur d’Alene Press
City must disclose first names of employees

COEUR d’ALENE — First names are a matter of public record, even if they reveal gender, First District Judge Charles Hosack ruled on Friday.

That means Wayne Hoffman will get the full names of every city of Coeur d’Alene employee as part of his public records request.

“Obviously, I’m pleased,” Hoffman said of the court’s decision. “It comes down to the basic right for the public to know how their cities operate.”

Hoffman, executive director for Idaho Freedom Foundation, requested the names and salaries for all of Coeur d’Alene’s 300-plus positions in July — as he’d done with other public entities across the state — for a Web site he said he created to promote transparency in government.

Coeur d’Alene complied with most of the request but only gave the first initial of each employee’s first name.

First names, the city argued, reveal gender, which is not a matter of public record.

Shortly after the city’s denial, Hoffman requested the first names of “gender neutral” first-name employees. The city complied, and provided him several of those.

Unsatisfied, Hoffman motioned for the rest of the records request.

In a 30-minute proceeding Friday, Hosack weighed both arguments, with Hoffman listening in via telephone from Boise, and attorney Michael Haman representing the city.

Although the city’s stance was a “common sense approach” to “conflicting statutes,” Hosack said, it was one that didn’t follow the letter of Idaho law.

“It’s not exactly clear how you would determine gender neutral,” he said. “It seems to me in this day and age what name generates what gender is not as clear as what it used to be. So that’s somewhat a subjective (stance). So that’s difficult.”

According to state statute 9-340C under the Idaho Public Records Law manual, records are reserved for a public servant’s employment history, classification, pay grade, salary and the like. Excluded from the public’s right to know is personnel information relating, but not limited to, info regarding sex, race, marital status, birth date and home address.

“The black and white requirement to disclose the name overrides the black and white requirement to not disclose the gender,” Hosack said. “I can’t figure out a way to allow the city of Coeur d’Alene to apply the test without making it a rule of law — a rule that would then require every other agency to do what the city of Coeur d’Alene is doing.”

Following the decision, City Attorney Mike Gridley said the city would not appeal, and that by allowing the court to decide what should and shouldn’t be allowed as public information with the conflicting codes was the best way to protect the city in the legal confusion.

“We accept the decision,” he said. “Obviously, (Hosack) stated he struggled with it a little bit. We just wanted to get a decision so we’re protected and nobody claims we violated the law.”

Hosack admitted he didn’t see the value of posting full names of city employees on the Web site — www.ouridaho.com — over posting the names and first initials, regardless of Hoffman’s claim it made tracking government employees and their salaries easier.

Haman also argued that information could be used for identity theft, which Hosack also said was plausible.

Still, Hosack said, the law is the law.

“The clear conflict raised by the fact that certain names disclose gender is a very legitimate point, but I don’t really have any way to balance that,” he said. “The Idaho law is pretty clear that the names have to be disclosed.”

Restitution is not sought.

The court will release the files to Hoffman upon his request, which he said he will do.

Hoffman said he’s happy the issue is resolved.

“We don’t want to get in trouble by violating the law that says don’t reveal gender,” Gridley said. “Now the court says, ‘it’s OK for you to do that.'”

From the Coeur d’Alene Press

From The Spokesman-Review’s “Eye on Boise”

When Paul Kjellander, head of the Idaho Office of Energy Resources, briefed a legislative interim committee this morning about the wide-ranging work on options for Idaho’s energy future being done out of his office by the Strategic Energy Alliance, an effort launched by the governor that includes task forces, a board of private industry representatives, and a council that includes state agency heads, Sen. Kate Kelly, D-Boise, said she had a legal concern. The work of the alliance, which was created by an executive order from the governor, is “in a gray area with regard to whether the work is public or private,” she said. That’s why she’s been working with the governor’s office on legislation to codify the entire Idaho Office of Energy Resources, which actually doesn’t exist in state law, but also was created by executive order. Writing the agency into state law would give it the Legislature’s blessing as well, she noted, as well as clarifying that everything it does is subject to the state’s open meeting and public records laws.

“In my view, there’s public policy being created by the Office of Energy Resources through the Strategic Energy Alliance, and in my view, the process should be open and transparent,” Kelly said. “The codification would have that value.” Kelly noted that while the governor’s office has worked with her on the legislation, it’s indicated that this year is not the right time to enact it. Asked to explain that, Kjellander told lawmakers, “There will be a time in the near future, I hope.”

He said the “main concern from the state’s perspective, the Office of Energy Resources in cooperation with the governor’s office,” is that the coming legislative session will be a time when consolidating agencies will be under consideration, and “even the potential discussion of eliminating some agencies. … Those discussions are likely to take place in the hallways across the street,” at the state Capitol. To write Energy Resources into law as a new official state agency at the same time, Kjellander said, “might … just be poor timing.” Kjellander said the executive order that created his office still is in effect, and it can continue operating under it for now. He also pledged to keep its operations “transparent,” saying, “I feel confident that I’ll hear your messages pretty loud. … I think Sen. Kelly communicated her concerns very clearly.”

From The Spokesman-Review’s “Eye on Boise”

Editorial from the Idaho Statesman
The Robert Manwill disappearance became big news – and the Boise Police Department did nothing to discourage it.

The police held frequent and excruciatingly incremental news briefings; several coincided with live local newscasts. The police asked the community to help find clues into the disappearance of the 8-year-old, and 2,300 people turned out.

The unprecedented search effort and the intense public interest will complicate jury selection, if the case of Robert’s murder goes to trial. The rights of the accused must be protected. But this can be done without sealing court documents – a judicial overreach that could embolden police and prosecutors to try to keep other documents out of public view.

Magistrate Judge John Hawley has kept a lid on a key record – a search warrant for the apartment shared by Robert’s mother, Melissa Jenkins, and her boyfriend, Daniel Ehrlick. Saying the document contains accusatory hearsay statements against the two first-degree murder suspects, Hawley said its release would only make it more difficult to find an impartial jury.

It is a strangely reasoned and highly troubling decision.

Search warrants are presumed to be public records. They have been made public prior to other high-profile local trials. Hawley concedes this point, then proceeds to ignore it.

An open court process ensures accountability and holds police and prosecutors to healthy scrutiny. Again, Hawley concedes the point. “Moreover,” he writes, “given the immense concern and emotion evoked by national publicity and extensive media coverage, the public has a strong interest in making sure that appropriate steps have been taken to investigate and prosecute those responsible for Robert’s death.”

And yet, when it came time to uphold the public’s right to know, Hawley failed. His concern for the suspects’ Sixth Amendment rights is valid. His compromise of the public’s First Amendment rights is not.

Nor is it even necessary. Hawley’s curious ruling seems to dismiss the notion that fair-trial concerns are better addressed through the jury selection process. The Statesman argued this point while seeking the release of the warrant.

We have no doubt that it will require a painstaking and costly effort to find an unbiased jury. We have seen this before. Last year, 325 potential jurors were summoned to Boise for the sentencing of confessed child killer Joseph Duncan III.

The parallels are clear. Another highly and appropriately public search for a missing child has evolved into a highly public murder case. It is impossible for a judge to unring this bell. It remains possible to seat a jury – without sealing documents.

After his July 24 disappearance, Treasure Valley residents got to know the smiling face and short life story of young Robert Manwill. Since Aug. 3, when Robert’s body was found in a canal, they have learned precious little about his slaying. The case has been presented before a grand jury – and is based, to some unknown extent, on records Hawley doesn’t want the public to see. A community that deserves answers is left only with new questions.

“Our View” is the editorial position of the Idaho Statesman. It is an unsigned opinion expressing the consensus of the Statesman’s editorial board. To comment on an editorial or suggest a topic, e-mail editorial@idahostatesman.com.

Editorial from the Idaho Statesman

From the Spokesman-Review

BOISE – A nonprofit group on Tuesday launched a new “government transparency” Web site designed to give anyone who’s interested details about state and local government spending in Idaho, from a mayor’s salary to an agency’s computer purchases.

“Transparency is a non-partisan issue – it’s not Republican, it’s not Democrat, it’s not something that typically divides people,” said Wayne Hoffman, executive director of the Idaho Freedom Foundation, a nonpartisan think tank that launched the site, “OurIdaho.com.”

Through a series of public records request, Hoffman, a former newspaper reporter and former spokesman for then-GOP Congressman Bill Sali, gathered up salary and expenditure data from all Idaho state agencies, major cities, school districts, and highway districts going back 18 months, and fashioned them into the searchable Web site.

“Over the next several months, we’re going to be adding to that data,” he said. “Without that data, how can we begin to have a debate about the size of government? … Hopefully it’ll shed some new light on how your government operates.”

Rep. Phil Hart, R-Athol, proposed a state-run government transparency Web site during this year’s legislative session, but the measure was rejected amid cost questions. State Controller Donna Jones also said then that her office was working toward such a service, but wouldn’t propose starting it in the midst of a state budget crunch.

Hoffman’s site is entirely funded by private donations, which also support the operations of the Idaho Freedom Foundation, which he described as a “free-market think tank.” He said the state controller’s office was very helpful in gathering the data; he thanked to staffers from the office who attended his kickoff press conference.

Idaho Senate President Pro-Tem Bob Geddes, R-Soda Springs, when asked about the project, said, “I think it’s a great thing – I’m kind of a proponent of transparency as well. We should have it.” He added, “What Wayne has done is done a lot of research that a lot of citizens may not know how to do or may not be able to do.”

Among the data on the site are salaries for state and local employees. A quick search showed the governor’s salary $111,989 a year, and the mayor of Coeur d’Alene’s at $2,700 a month, a figure the city confirmed.

Hoffman ran into trouble when he submitted his information request to Coeur d’Alene, which refused to release employee first names on the grounds that that would constitute identifying their gender. Only first initials are shown for Coeur d’Alene city employees in the data.

“We’re not done with Coeur d’Alene,” said Hoffman. “I’m sure they’ll recognize that state law is explicit – names of public employees are public, both the first and last names.”

From the Spokesman-Review

From the Twin Falls Times-News

Practice is unusual in Idaho education, other state agencies

By Ben Botkin
Times-News writer

The College of Southern Idaho says it’s common to destroy records that show how it evaluates firms vying for construction projects.

But that differs from the way the Idaho Division of Public Works and other public institutions handle documents used in selecting contractors.

The Times-News recently asked CSI for public records regarding its selection of the Starr Corp. and CTA engineers and architects to design and build a $6.5 million energy education building.

In June, CSI released evaluation forms with signatures of the four evaluators blanked out. When asked about the redaction, which is not allowed under state public records law, the college responded:

“The evaluation forms … were signed by each evaluator. The names were whited out on copies provided to the Times-News so that evaluators would not be cross examined concerning their evaluations. It is a common practice to destroy evaluation forms after the selection process is complete for this exact reason.”

The forms are used to evaluate proposals from design-build teams. State law allows CSI to select contractors based on qualifications, rather than submission of low bids.

The University of Idaho has used the same design-build system, though the traditional bid approach is more commonplace, U of I officials said. When a design-build proposal is sought, “… There is a team and there are evaluation sheets and evaluation summary sheets,” said U of I spokeswoman Tania Thompson. “Like the bid-tabulation sheets, these are a part of the project record and are kept in the project file. … The evaluation summary sheets show how team members assigned points.”

Those records are part of the project file, which is essentially a permanent record, Thompson said. The university’s project files go back more than 20 years, she said.

At Lewis-Clark State College in Lewiston, bid evaluations are kept for three fiscal years beyond the end of the year they are submitted, said Bert Sahlberg, spokesman for the college.

Lewis-Clark used the design-build method once for a new nursing building. In that case, the names of the evaluation team and point totals were disclosed, but “people were not privy to how each evaluator rated each bidder,” Sahlberg said.

“We believe that is intentional so that each evaluator can give an honest rating without worrying about undue pressure or future reprisal from a bidder,” Sahlberg said.

Frank Zang, spokesman for Boise State University, said the Idaho Division of Public Works oversees most BSU construction.

The Division of Public Works also oversees state-financed construction at CSI and other on other campuses. It uses an evaluation form similar to CSI’s in-house document, but never destroys them, said Tim Mason, the agency’s administrator.

“We keep them all and the evaluation sheets become part of the project file,” Mason said.

While CSI did not destroy its evaluation forms, state law requires agencies that reject records requests or that remove information from a record before its release to say in writing their legal authority in doing so.

All Idaho colleges and universities, including CSI, are subject to the state public records law.

CSI didn’t provide a legal reason for redacting evaluator signatures, nor has it responded to a Times-News written request for the required explanation.

In response to a second formal record request the college released another set of copies of the evaluation forms.

About a fourth of those copies show blank signature lines, however. The college did not say whether those copies had been redacted, or why the signature lines were blank.

Ben Botkin may be reached at bbotkin@magicvalley.com or 208-735-3238.

From the Twin Falls Times-News

From the Coeur d’Alene Press

By TOM HASSLINGER
Staff writer

Man fighting to collect first names to match pay information

COEUR d’ALENE — The city of Coeur d’Alene doesn’t read Idaho code the way other public Idaho entities do.

That’s according to Wayne Hoffman, Idaho Freedom Foundation director, who is compiling a list of financial expenditures and employee salaries from dozens of state, city and county entities for a Web site he’s creating to monitor and promote transparency in government.

Only Coeur d’Alene isn’t fully complying.

It’s “absurd, shallow and indefensible,” Hoffman said of Coeur d’Alene’s refusal to provide all the information Hoffman had requested. “They’re just looking for ways to keep the public from quickly being able to figure out who makes what.”

Citing Idaho’s Freedom of Information Act, Hoffman requested the names and salaries for all of Coeur d’Alene’s 360-plus positions — as he’d already done with roughly two dozen other public entities across the state.

Coeur d’Alene granted Hoffman’s request with the salaries and the last names of its employees. But it did not, and will not, include first names.

Those, the city maintains, are protected.

Not the names themselves but what they might reveal — the employee’s gender.

“Idaho code indicates very clearly that gender doesn’t have to be disclosed,” said Mike Gridley, city attorney. “We’ve honored that statute.”

According to state statute 9-340C under the Idaho Public Records Law manual, records are reserved for a public servant’s employment history, classification, pay grade, salary and the like. Excluded from the public’s right to know is personnel information relating, but not limited to, info regarding sex, race, marital status, birth date and home address.

But Hoffman, a former communication coordinator for ex-Congressman Bill Sali, said he didn’t request the genders, just the names. And Coeur d’Alene’s interpretation of the law is something he’s never come across in his 10 years as government reporter for the Idaho Press-Tribune and the Idaho Statesman, or from the dozen or so entities who have already responded to his request.

His Web site, www.ouridaho.com, is expecting a mid-August launch date. (It’s password access only right now.) Already posted are roughly 30,000 employee positions across the state, including Ada County, the Boise School District and the cities of Nampa and Meridian. It’s 737 pages of names. All include first names. Some even include middle initials.

“It bothers me,” said attorney Allen Derr of Coeur d’Alene’s legal stance. “They’re being unduly creative with the interpretation of the law. First names are a matter of course. Always.”

Derr is a Boise-based lawyer with 50 years of legal experience, which includes cases that have gone before the U.S. Supreme Court.

He said he’d never heard of Coeur d’Alene’s application of the law before. Using the city’s logic, he said, a case could be made that last names should be protected because they could reveal an employee’s ethnic background. And ambiguous first names — like Pat, Terry or Francis — would have to be released.

“I’ve never heard of it in this context before,” he said. “Perhaps they’re stretching it.”

But the language is printed, and it may be a matter of interpretation.

After its initial refusal, the city did send the first initial of each employee’s first name to Hoffman. Hoffman said that still isn’t good enough, and he could challenge the city’s decision legally.

“Perhaps it’s for a judge to decide,” Gridley said.

From the Coeur d’Alene Press

From The Spokesman-Review

BY BETSY Z. RUSSELL

BOISE – Idaho Gov. Butch Otter spoke out Tuesday against limiting public information about state land transfers, saying he wants “total and complete transparency.”

The governor’s comments came after a committee of top real estate professionals, asked to review how Idaho could update its rules for transfers of state endowment lands to match “modern business practices,” recommended eliminating the requirement for public auctions and exempting the transactions from the state’s Public Records Act.

Otter immediately objected to the proposed changes, some of which would require amendments to the state Constitution and the Admissions Act, by which Idaho became a state.

“We have to make sure that there is total and complete transparency,” Otter declared. “Taking it off public auction inherently reduces the transparency. … I would have a problem with that.”

Otter said he’d also oppose exempting state land transactions from the public records act. “Oh yeah,” he said, “and I think every member of the board would.”

The state Land Board, which commissioned the report from the committee of professional real estate experts, praised the panel and thanked it for its work, despite objecting to some of its key recommendations.

“This board was formed to look at one narrow issue,” said Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden. “There are a lot of other factors we have to take into account … such as can we create a system that will preserve transparency.”

The Land Board is made up of the state’s top elected officials and is charged by the state Constitution with getting the maximum long-term financial return from state endowment lands. Those lands are held in trust to earn money for public schools, universities and other state institutions.

Board members didn’t raise objections to other proposals from the panel, to amend the Constitution to eliminate acreage limits on transfers of state land to a single individual or company. Those limits, according to the panel’s report, “do not conform to modern business practices.”

The panel also proposed allowing sales of state endowment lands “in any reasonable manner” rather than only by public auction; and changing the Admissions Act that made Idaho a state to remove a clause that requires endowment land to be “sold only at public sale,” instead saying they “shall be sold as provided by Idaho law.”

“Our intent was to provide flexibility to the state, then let the state decide through its laws how best to govern these transactions,” said Robert Phillips, president of Hawkins Companies and a commercial real estate developer.

George Kirk, a residential real estate developer and member of the panel, told Otter, “Your points are excellent and well-taken. … There are ramifications both corporate, personal and moral that you bring up.”

The group’s report said, “Participants in private sector and commercial business transactions typically expect confidentiality in negotiations and protection of trade secrets of the parties. Likewise, it is recommended that the same protections be afforded to the state Board of Land Commissioners when negotiating leases, purchases, or sales of state endowment lands,” in order to secure maximum financial returns.

Otter said there might be a point during negotiations when not everything is released, but it would all have to become public eventually, he said.

Though the panel proposed an ambitious timeline, to present its recommendations to the Legislature this year and then get constitutional amendments on the ballot in time for the 2010 election, Land Board members said they thought that was unrealistic.

“It could be worked out this legislative season,” said residential real estate broker Bryant Forrester of Homeland Realty, but state Controller Donna Jones shook her head no.

From The Spokesman-Review