About 80 clerks from highway districts around the state participated in an IDOG seminar on open records on Nov. 14, 2007, at the Doubletree Hotel Riverside in Boise. The seminar was conducted by Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden, Deputy Attorney General Bill von Tagen, and IDOG President Betsy Russell.

The session came during the annual meeting of the state’s highway districts, and was sought by Stuart Davis, executive director of the Idaho Association of Highway Districts. The day allowed time only for half of the regular IDOG seminar – the part on open public records – but the question-and-answer session and handouts also included information on Idaho’s Open Meeting Law, and the highway districts have asked IDOG to come back next year and give the full presentation on both laws.

Davis said the handouts, including the Attorney General’s Idaho Open Meeting Law Manual and Idaho Public Records Law Manual, were the best publications on the topic he’s ever seen, and he now feels much better equipped to advise his member highway districts on questions relating to open records and meetings. All the clerks left with copies of both manuals.

Highway district clerks from all parts of the state participated in the seminar, and some even portrayed characters in the seminar’s audience-participation skits, from “Earnest the Rookie Reporter” to “Undertrained, the Overly Cautious Clerk.” The session combined laughs with learning on an important topic for these key government employees who are on the front lines for compliance with Idaho’s open meetings and public records laws.

(Boise) – Attorney General Lawrence Wasden teamed up with Idahoans for Openness in Government (IDOG) and the Idaho Press Club on March 14, 2007 to help educate people about what is covered—and what is not—by the state’s public records and open meetings laws. The lively, interactive session drew a crowd including lots of members of the working press, along with local officials, their staff and ordinary citizens.

The workshop coincided with Sunshine Week (March 11-17), a non-partisan initiative that seeks to enlighten and empower people to play an active role in their government at all levels, and to give them access to information that makes their lives better and their communities stronger.

The three-hour workshop presented the public records and open meeting laws in a no-legalese format, complete with interactive, audience-participation skits that helped illustrate the do’s and don’ts of complying with these two important laws. The session ran from 6 to 9 p.m. in the Hayes Auditorium at the Boise Public Library.

“This collaborative effort with local government, IDOG and the Idaho Press Club continues the long-standing tradition of the Office of Attorney General working to educate Idahoans about our state’s open meeting and public records laws,” Attorney General Wasden said.

Wasden, Deputy Attorney General Bill von Tagen and IDOG President Betsy Russell conducted the seminar, which was co-sponsored by the Idaho Business Review and the Idaho Statesman.

Part of a statewide series, funding for the workshop comes from the National Freedom of Information Coalition through a grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

Russell said, “Our purpose is to foster open government, supervised by an informed and engaged citizenry. We all benefit when the public, the media and government officials are fully aware of the public’s rights to access government information and observe the conduct of the public’s business.”

View photos from our Preston seminar.

By Dean Miller
IDOG vice president

PRESTON – Hosted by Preston Citizen Publisher Kelly Mickelson and Editor Rod Boam, the Idahoans for Openness in Government roadshow drew a crowed of 50 to the spanking-new fire hall in downtown Preston on Oct. 2.

Citizens, reporters and Franklin and Oneida County officials got a primer on how to legally hold a roadside meeting about construction business, how to hold an executive session, and how to challenge the legality of a suspected improper meeting.

The role-playing skits continue to be popular, particularly those that feature the roles of the rude clerk and the rude citizen and the rude reporter.

This was the 13th IDOG roadshow on open records and open meetings. One more is coming up: Teton Valley sometime after the general election.

The bulk of the session was conducted by Deputy Attorney General Bill VonTagen, the reigning expert on Idaho’s open government laws. He fielded specific local questions on whether a county prosecuting attorney can legitimately handle complaints, since he typically functions as the county government’s attorney. VonTagen told the residents of southeastern Idaho that in most cases, county prosecutors refer such cases to a neighboring county’s prosecutor or to the Attorney General’s staff.

Attorney General Lawrence Wasden plays the part of the referee in the skits section of the program and provides commentary during Von Tagen’s Powerpoint presentation summarizing the most important sections of the code.

View photos from our Montpelier Workshop on July 17th.

By Dean Miller
IDOG vice president

MONTPELIER – About 30 people tore themselves away from the mid-summer beauty of the Bear Lake region to attend IDOG’s 12th open meetings and open records seminar, the latest stop in our road show.

Hosted by News-Examiner Editor Rosa Moosman, the July 19 session was held at the atmospheric National Oregon Trail Center in Montpelier, which includes a well-equipped theater, in addition to a fascinating museum of pioneer and settler artifacts.

Evaluations collected from the audience indicate a strong need for IDOG’s program. One hundred percent said they learned something they can put to use and 100 percent said they would recommend the seminar to others in jobs similar to their own. Asked to compare it to other seminars, 70 percent of the respondents rated the seminar “excellent.”

The popularity of the melodrama-style acting in the skits worked well, with a few players showing hammy tendencies and others just reading the scripts.

This was the last seminar of IDOG’s summer season, but more are in store in the future.

From the Times-News

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By Terry Smith
Times-News writer

TWIN FALLS — Elected officials and government workers attended a workshop Monday to learn how to not get in trouble.

Nearly 80 participants, including news media and political activists, attended the Idaho Open Meeting/Public Records workshop at the College of Southern Idaho Herrett Center. The event was organized by Idahoans for Openness in Government and sponsored by The Times-News.

Presenters included Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden, who explained the importance of openness in government and also talked about records that can legally be withheld from public perusal.

“A public record is a public record and it is none of the government’s business what a requester wants to do with that document,” Wasden said.

Idahoans for Openness in Government is a nonprofit Boise-based coalition that promotes open government and freedom of information. The Twin Falls workshop was one of several being held around the state by the organization in partnership with Wasden’s office, the Idaho Association of Counties and the Association of Idaho Cities.

Twin Falls County Sheriff Wayne Tousley attended along with eight of his employees. He said the workshop will help his staff have a better legal understanding of when to release and when not to release information.

Presentations included information on the state’s open meeting law, including instances when the public can be legally excluded. Penalties for noncompliance were discussed. Offending officials could be fined up to $300.

Harold Mohlman, a Minidoka Fire Protection District commissioner, said he attended “just so we don’t get in trouble in holding our meetings.” Mohlman actually wore three hats at the event: he is also president of the Idaho Water Users Association and president of A & B Irrigation District in Rupert.

From the Times-News

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From the State Journal

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Workshop focuses on public’s rights

By Dan Boyd Journal Writer

POCATELLO – Although they don’t always have the right to participate, citizens do possess inalienable rights to watch what’s done with their tax dollars, state attorney general’s office representatives said Friday.

During a three-hour-long workshop at Idaho State University that drew more than 100 attendees, media members and state lawyers spelled out the details of Idaho’s oft-misunderstood open meetings laws.

“This is not about thinking outside the box, this is about staying well inside the box,” advised Bill von Tagen, the state’s deputy attorney general. “When in doubt, open the meeting.

“(In many cases), most people don’t care what you’re doing until you close the meeting.”

With state lawmakers, reporters and students in the crowd, the event sought to serve an educational role in explaining when a board or governing body can and can’t close its doors.

“In some states, county commissioners can’t get into a car together without posting a notice they’re having a meeting,” said Dean Miller, managing editor of the Post-Register newspaper in Idaho Falls and one of the workshop’s organizers.

Idaho has no such rules, though officials found to be conducting de facto business in a public place without notifying the public are subject to a $150 fine.

Bannock County Prosecutor Mark Hiedeman said he was encouraged to see a large number of people who weren’t government officials in attendance.

“We’ve had some issues with open meetings here,” he said, referring specifically to turmoil surrounding School District 25’s handling of personnel matters in recent years. “We haven’t fined any local figures, but there have been some close calls.”

Hiedeman said a combination of ignorance, embarrassment and media paranoia are the usual reasons boards or governing bodies run afoul of the law.

In Idaho, the legislative and judicial branches, unlike most local entities, are allowed to close certain meetings because the state’s Constitution allows them to set their own rules.

But von Tagen said elected and local officials alike should remember the government, in its purest essence, belongs to the people.

“People get to see their government, warts and all,” he said. Friday’s event, which was sponsored by the Idaho State Journal, was one of the most highly attended of a series of similar workshops that have been conducted around the state. The final workshop happens Monday in Twin Falls.

Dan Boyd covers politics, higher education and natural resource issues for the Journal. He can be reached at 239-3168 or by e-mail at dboyd@journalnet.com.

From the State Journal

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Boise Photo Gallery and Caldwell Photo Gallery.

Eighty people in Caldwell and nearly 100 in Boise attended recent IDOG seminars on Idaho’s open meetings and public records laws, led by Attorney General Lawrence Wasden, Deputy Attorney General Bill von Tagen and IDOG President Betsy Russell.

Those in attendance ranged from news reporters, photographers, editors and cameramen to elected local government officials, clerks, deputy clerks and other government employees, school trustees, law enforcement personnel, attorneys and interested citizens.

The Caldwell seminar, held at the Canyon County Courthouse, was co-sponsored by the Idaho Press-Tribune and KBCI Local 2 News. The Boise seminar, held at the Boise Public Library, was co-sponsored by the Idaho Statesman. Six IDOG board members were in attendance at one or both of the seminars: Betsy Russell, reporter for The Spokesman-Review; Rocky Barker, reporter for The Idaho Statesman; Anne Abrams of the Idaho State Library; Idaho Secretary of State Ben Ysursa; Elinor Chehey of the League of Women Voters of Idaho; and Allen Derr, attorney at law.

During the course of the seminars, audience members got a chance to portray various characters in skits to illustrate some do’s and don’ts under Idaho’s open-government laws. That led to some laughs, such as when Ada County Assessor Bob McQuade played the role of “Earnest, the Rookie Reporter” trying to get information from Idaho Statesman political columnist Dan Popkey, who was playing “Undertrained, the Overly Cautious Clerk.”

Here are some of the comments from evaluations filled out by audience members at the end of both seminars:

“Nice review of public records and open meetings.” “Our practice is pretty good, learned a couple of points to improve on board procedure.” “Learned more about the business of the public.” “An informative, organized, and entertaining workshop.” “There are exceptions!” “The public has access to many records that I was not aware of.” “It was fun but a good learning experience.”

The Caldwell and Boise seminars were the eighth and ninth that IDOG has held around the state, with two more coming up Dec. 9 in Pocatello and Dec. 12 in Twin Falls. Previous seminars were in Idaho Falls, Salmon, Lewiston, Moscow, Coeur d’Alene and Sandpoint.

Boise Photo Gallery and Caldwell Photo Gallery.