IDOG touring state to help people access government information, understand laws

From the Spokesman-Review

Erica Curless, Staff writer

Photo gallery.

COEUR d’ALENE – Open meetings and records make a healthy government, Idaho’s attorney general said Tuesday during a workshop to help the public, media and government officials understand the state’s laws about accessing government information.

“I believe an informed electorate is best able to make proper choices,” Lawrence Wasden told the 90 participants at the Coeur d’Alene workshop aimed at helping people understand the basic rules of Idaho’s open meeting and public records laws. The seminar highlighted the few reasons a government body, such as a city council or county commission, can have a closed-door meeting and the procedure for asking for government documents.

Wasden and members of the nonprofit Idahoans for Openness in Government, a group known as IDOG, began touring the state last fall to host open-government seminars to promote open government and freedom of information.

The group will stop in Sandpoint today for a 1 p.m. workshop at the East Bonner County Library.

The focus isn’t for people to argue the good versus the bad of Idaho’s laws, but instead an opportunity to improve communication between the governments that are the custodians of documents and the people who want the information, which is the general public and the media, Wasden said.

“We are solving problems at the grass-roots level,” said Dean Miller, the group’s vice president and the editor of The Post Register newspaper in Idaho Falls. “We all need to understand the basic rules.”

There are times when government officials try to wrongly withhold information from the public and people need to know their rights and get the courts involved, Miller said. It’s not just the responsibility of the media.

“If citizens start challenging these cases as they come up, it will really put muscle behind the teeth (of the law),” Miller said.

Phillip Thompson, a Hayden private investigator, told of how the Benewah Sheriff’s Department refused to give him information unless he revealed who he was investigating and why ? a violation of the state’s public records law.

Another resident asked Wasden’s office to do something about local governments stonewalling regular citizens who request information.

Deputy Attorney General Bill von Tagen said those are the types of issues people should bring up with their state lawmakers because it’s the Idaho Legislature that makes the laws about access to public records.

Wasden is scrambling to make the Sandpoint seminar because he had to return to Nampa for President Bush’s speech. If he is unable to get a flight back to North Idaho, von Tagen will preside over the workshop.

“I’m trying very diligently,” Wasden said. “But it’s a rare opportunity to be with the president in Idaho.”

To access manuals on Idaho’s open meeting, public records and ethics in government laws, go to the Idaho Attorney General Web site: https://www2.state.id.us/ag/manuals/.

From the Spokesman Review

View photos from our Lewiston and Moscow seminars.

From the Lewiston Tribune.

By Joel Mills

MOSCOW — When Idaho’s narrowly defined statutes allow, government should always give up requested documents and allow the public into government meetings. That was one of the primary messages Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden and his deputy, William von Tagen, delivered to about 50 public officials, journalists and citizens at an open government workshop Thursday at the University of Idaho.

Wasden and von Tagen will hold another workshop from 1 to 3 p.m. today in the Williams Conference Center on the west side of the Lewis-Clark State College campus in Lewiston. (The Lewiston session also drew more than 50 attendees.)

Wasden said his office often fields questions from officials and reporters who are confused about Idaho’s two open government laws, one for public records, the other for open meetings.

“We find that half the time, the public officials are wrong,” in their interpretation of the laws, Wasden said. “Which of course means the other half of the time the media is wrong.”

The workshops are held periodically around the state to educate both sides — and the public — about the laws in hopes of harmonizing their at-times adversarial relationships.

And to flip that relationship on its head, Wasden staged several skits, with reporters acting as public officials and public officials acting as reporters.

One skit focused on the right of public boards or commissions to enter into closed, or executive, session.

In the skit, an imaginary reporter has a conversation with an imaginary city clerk about the city council going into executive session to discuss a pending lawsuit against the city.

The reporter gripes that she should be allowed into the closed meeting since the council is dealing with taxpayer money. But the clerk responds — correctly, according to Wasden — that the public does indeed have a right to know what their elected officials have in store for their money – but not when it interferes with their ability to negotiate a potential settlement.

“If you (publicly) say the range is between $75,000 and $150,000, what do you think the opening bid is going to be?” von Tagen asked later.

Executive sessions are similarly used to discuss narrowly defined issues of hiring, personnel evaluation or discipline, labor negotiation and to consider pending or probable lawsuits. Records exempt from disclosure and property purchases can also be considered in executive session. Twenty-four hour notice must also be given before the executive session. And no final decisions may be made in such a meeting.

Another skit had Latah County Commissioner Paul Kimmell play the role of “Lucky the reporter,” with three reporters playing commissioners. Lucky overhears them cutting deals at a restaurant. Playing referee, Wasden pulled his hypothetical yellow flag and fined the “commissioners” $150 each.

“It’s not illegal for them to just hang out,” Wasden said, “but they haven’t given notice about the meeting, and they’re conducting county business.”

The fine jumps to $300 for each additional offense by a public official.

During a break, Wasden said he has only imposed fines two or three times in his three-plus years as attorney general. But his office is currently investigating possible violations in Canyon and Ada counties, he added.

The second half of the workshop dealt with public records. Wasden urged officials to give out requested documents whenever they can to avoid wasted time, energy and money.

In another skit, a rookie reporter gingerly asks a stubborn clerk for some sensitive, but public, documents. The clerk says no, the documents are personal. Referee Wasden again pulled his flag.

“Time out, time out! We’re going to call roughing the constituent here,” he joked. “You have to give up that document.”

Wasden also pointed out that the Idaho public records law prohibits the official from asking why the reporter or citizen wants the information.

“It’s irrelevant to the government why (he) wants that document,” he said.

Items exempt from public inspection include certain private personnel documents, records of ongoing law enforcement investigations, trade secrets and sensitive information about the location of endangered species. Draft legislation is also exempt. “The Legislature takes care of its own,” von Tagen quipped in a moment of self-proclaimed cynicism.

After the workshop, Wasden repeated his overall message.

“Even though a meeting may be closed, that doesn’t mean it has to be closed.”

The workshops in Moscow and Lewiston are sponsored by Idahoans for Openness in Government, the Moscow League of Women Voters, the Idaho Press Club and TPC Holdings, which owns the Lewiston Tribune and the Moscow-Pullman Daily News. Idaho’s open government laws and explanations are available through the attorney general’s office and are posted on its Web site at www.idaho.gov/ag or at www.openidaho.org.

From the Lewiston Tribune.

—— Mills may be contacted at jmills@lmtribune.com.

By Dean Miller

View photos.

The Salmon Recorder Herald has set the bar one notch higher for those who host IDOG�s open government workshops � the May 19 session in Salmon was the best-attended session yet, with around 90 people on hand.

The Recorder Herald’s Shiela Johnson got on local radio, published notices in the Recorder Herald, and made personal phone calls to dozens of locals, helping boost the turnout. This wasn�t surprising in view of the Recorder Herald�s motto:

�Free Press � Open Government � Free People�

Audience members also were recruited for the skits. That proved entertaining, and it engaged the audience right off the bat.

If you haven�t seen it yet, the IDOG seminar mixes skits (short bits about common open government struggles, refereed by the Attorney General) with a meaty PowerPoint presentation by deputy AG Bill Von Tagen, one of Idaho�s leading experts on our open meetings and public records laws. Post Register editor Dean Miller drafted the skits and serves as moderator.

Evaluation forms filled out by attendees have been overwhelmingly enthusiastic about the format.

Attorney General Lawrence Wasden and his staff drove four hours from Boise to lead the show in Salmon. He plays the role of referee in each skit, jumping in to note fouls and to encourage sportsmanlike conduct.

The script has been revised by Bob Cooper, Wasden�s press officer, to make it even more punchy and fast-moving.

Another thing the Recorder Herald taught us: Future hosts and co-sponsors may want to consider pushing local judges to attend. Magistrate Jerry Meyers� presence in the back of the room was not lost on local officials. It has to help the cause of government openness that these officials now know that he knows they have heard the rules clearly explained.

The timing could hardly have been better. Salmon news has been dominated recently by reports of Sheriff Sam Slavin�s DUI arrest in Boise. Slavin, it turns out, was disciplined several years ago for a similar offense, but he has so far refused to release records pertaining to his alleged arrival at an accident scene, intoxicated, in a county car.

Seminar Photo Gallery

By Tom Grote, Editor and Publisher The Star-News

View photos.

About 60 people attend the second Idahoans for Openness in Government seminar on open meetings and public records held on Nov. 12 at The Holiday Inn Express – The Hunt Lodge in McCall.

The crowd included representatives from more than two dozen government agencies, boards and commissioners, plus a dozen elected officials and members of the general public.

Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden led the session and gave a strong endorsement to the concept of open meetings and public records. His statements were backed up by Deputy Attorney General Bill von Tagen, who gave a PowerPoint presentation on both the Idaho Open Meetings Law and the Idaho Public Records Law.

For emphasis, role-playing was done between Bob Cooper, communications director for the attorney general’s office, and Idaho Falls Post-Register Editor Dean Miller. The two, with assistance from volunteers in the audience, acted out hypothetical situations between
reporters, clerks and public officials. Whenever a violation would occur, Wasden would call “Time Out!” and explain the violation. Those attending asked a wide range of practical questions and several stayed after the meeting to ask more questions one-on-one of the participants.

The room and refreshments were sponsored by The Star-News of McCall. The Star-News Publisher Tom Grote, who is also an IDOG board member, was in charge of invitations and provided free public service announcements in his newspaper.

Originally published in the Idaho Press Club Communicator, vol. 26, iss. 3, Fall 2004.

By Betsy Russell

A full house of about 50 government workers, reporters and interested citizens gathered in Idaho Falls recently for the first in a statewide series of seminars about open records and meetings.

The openness seminars are sponsored by Idahoans for Openness in Government, or IDOG, a new non-partisan, non-profit coalition that works for openness in government in Idaho. IDOG is partnering with Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden on these seminars, to educate local government folks, the press and the public about what�s required under our open meetings and public records laws. The second one is coming up in McCall, and future seminars are planned in communities around the state over the next two years.

As its president, I�m a little biased about IDOG. But everyone in that room in Idaho Falls got a strong message about openness in government and learned a lot about our laws.
Plus, it was fun. The audience ranged from school district staffers to reporters, from
county records clerks to interested citizens, from police to a mayor to a city treasurer. It was great! IDOG Vice President Dean Miller, edi-tor of the Idaho Falls Post Register, worked with the Attorney General�s office to develop a no-legalese public records course that includes role-playing, real-life examples, some laughs along with some great information, and an excellent overview of the law from Deputy Attorney General Bill von Tagen, an expert on Idaho�s public records and open meetings laws.

During the first seminar, Bob Cooper, spokesman for the Attorney General�s office, joined Miller in several roleplaying skits featuring such characters as �Pushy� the caller and �Grumpy� the clerk; �Lucky,� a reporter who overhears local commissioners holding an illegal meeting at the local diner; �Savvy,� a police chief�s secretary, and �Scoop,� a
reporter who�s just been scooped.

Cooper, playing �Lucky,� looked suitably indignant as Miller, playing a county commissioner at the table behind him in the local diner, led an imaginary discussion with his two fellow commissioners in which they decided to pave a local road to help a crony, agreed to buy some property, and started talking about where to build the new jail when Wasden, playing the role of a referee, interrupted.

�Time out, here,� Wasden called out amid laughter. �What we�ve got here is a pretty serious violation of the open meeting law.�

He told the group, �The public has a right to understand how the public�s business is accomplished.�

The audience was attentive, had specific questions, and enjoyed the session, including the free refreshments.

Among the tips that von Tagen offered were:

• Public records are public property. Once somebody asks for it, you can�t get rid of it.
• If an agency doesn�t respond to a public records request within the required time, that�s considered a denial, and the agency can be taken to court and face fines, court costs and attorney�s fees.
• Most exemptions in the public records law don�t create a privacy right, and don�t bar a public official from releasing the information � they just mean release is not required. In many cases, �You still may be able to release the information,� von Tagen said.
• When in doubt, open up the meeting. �If you don�t, everybody is going to wonder what you�re up to, and they�re going to put a negative spin on that,� von Tagen told the crowd.

What is IDOG? Like similar coalitions in more than 40 other states, IDOG is a broad-based, non-profit coalition whose mission is to promote open government and freedom of information. IDOG�s board includes people from inside and outside of government, the media, civic organizations and more.

IDOG�s initial project is to put on open-government seminars in communities across Idaho, in partnership with the Idaho Attorney General, the Idaho Association of Counties and the Association of Idaho Cities. IDOG received funding for this project from the National Freedom of Information Coalition through a grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. We also received a grant from the Best of the West Foundation.

There are also other projects in the works, including a website that will feature information about IDOG and its activities along with news clips on open records and
open meetings developments around the state. When it goes up, look for it at www.openidaho.org. Public service announcements focusing on citizen access to government are in the works, and IDOG is looking into a future statewide public records audit to determine how our state is doing as far as compliance with public records laws.

You can support IDOG with a membership contribution; it�s $10 for an individual, $100 for an organization, and the first membership year will extend through 2005.

Officers, in addition to myself and Miller, include Anne Abrams of the Idaho State Library, who is secretary/treasurer. Here are IDOG�s other board members:

• Butch Alford, Lewiston Morning Tribune and Idaho Allied Dailes
• Rocky Barker, Idaho Statesman
• Elizabeth Brandt, University of Idaho College of Law
• Elinor Chehey, League of Women Voters of Idaho
• Tom Grote, Star-News and Idaho Newspaper Foundation
• Connie Searles, Idaho State Broadcasters Association
• and Ben Ysursa, Idaho Secretary of State

Don’t miss it when an IDOG seminar comes to your town!

Betsy Russell is the vice president of the Idaho Press Club. She is a Boise-based reporter for The Spokesman-Review.