Concealing concealed handgun records · 18 February 09
House Bill 2727, introduced this week, would exempt concealed handgun license information from being disclosed under Oregon public record laws.
The legislation arose after the Medford Mail Tribune sought a list of concealed handgun licenses from Jackson County as part of its reporting on the case of a South Medford High School teacher’s unsuccessful suit to carry a handgun on campus.
Free speech in Lake Oswego · 17 February 09
A Lakeridge High School student’s musings on psychedelic drug use by his peers has caused uproar and calls for censorship of student media in Lake Oswego
Wendy CulverwellShield law protects commenters - or maybe not · 12 February 09
A decision in Multnomah County Circuit Court appears to call into question recent protections allowed to anonymous posters on news web sites in another court.
Earlier this year I wrote about a court ruling in Clackamas County that anonymous comments on news media web sites are protected by Oregon’s shield law. The law is intended to protect journalists’ ability to shield confidential sources but it also extends to anyone “employed by or engaged in any medium of communication to the public.”
In a case involving the police tasering of a cyclist who later landed in Multnomah County Circuit Court on charges, “prosecuting attorney Ryan Lufkin found the witness by subpoenaing the commentor’s IP address and info from bikeportland,” according to this update at the end of a story by the Mercury. Though the cyclist’s attorney tried to suppress the witness based on the Clackamas County ruling, that motion was denied by Judge Youlee You. Mercury writer Sarah Mirk notes, “What this all means for the precedent of protecting blog commentors info under shield law is unclear, but it seems like a strike against the protection the papers won in court.”
Contractor racked up thousands in dinner fees · 11 February 09
A story in today’s Columbian shows that the head of not-for-profit doing clean-up on a future park charged at least $7,422 for spendy dinners and paid his own wife $42 an hour for her administrative assistant work. Reporter Michael Andersen got a tip from an Army audit of the project, and bolstered his story with more public records by obtaining receipts the contractor had filed.
Andersen details ups and downs in spending over the course of more than two years, telling us where the dinners took place, how many shared in the food, and including telling details like this: “(The) bills showed that someone on Gage’s team permanently moved from Tanqueray gin to the more expensive Bombay Sapphire in October 2007.”
SW Washington records and meetings · 9 February 09
The Columbian and the Washington Coalition for Open Government are sponsoring a free seminar on public records and open meetings. The two-hour program begins at 6:30 p.m. Feb. 25, and will be held at the Camas Public Library, 625 N.E. Fourth Ave., Camas, Wash.
Specialists who deal with records and meeting issues under Washington state’s open government laws will lead a panel discussion, and will take questions from the audience. The program includes content targeted at the public and the media, as well as public servants who must administer and respond to public inquiries and requests.
To RSVP, e-mail Patience Rogge, the event’s coordinator, at rogge@olympus.net.
Professor pens records-law opin · 4 February 09
University of Oregon professor Bill Harbaugh wants Oregon Attorney General John Kroger to fix Oregon Public Records Law:
“Our public records law gives too much discretion to state agencies and too little power to citizens who want to know what those agencies are doing. We need change. We can get it quickly. Here’s how.”
He’s even set up a blog on the topic.
Nick BudnickAshland City Council meets in private · 29 January 09
An attorney for the city of Ashland is saying that a meeting of the city council, held at the mayor’s house, is legal. According to this story in the Ashland Daily Tidings, the city council held the meeting as a training session. City Attorney Richard Appicello says the session was exempt from public meetings law. Thoughts anybody?
Lee van der VooComment [2008]
About-face at the White House · 22 January 09
President Barack Obama has reversed a decision by George W. Bush that tightened access to federal records. The White House has posted a presidential memo explaining the new order and directing the attorney general (when his appointment is finally confirmed) to issue new guidelines “reaffirming the commitment to accountability and transparency” in the FOIA process.
Here’s hoping some of that transparency trickles down to the states.
More info from AP below:
Do you feel safer in the dark? · 24 December 08
I want to post this press release from Sen. Ron Wyden’s folks calling for federal rules on the transport of radioactive waste. This is in response to a truck that jack-knifed on I-84 this week. The truck was carrying radioactive waste to the Hanford area. Fortunately, no one was hurt and the waste was not spilled. But at issue here is not only whether radioactive waste should be transported through Oregon in adverse weather conditions. At issue is also a rule change that closed records documenting the transport of radioactive waste after Sept. 11, 2001.
That change and others like it prompted SPJ to launch the “Do You Feel Safer in the Dark” campaign, raising awareness about the link between the terrorists attacks on the United States that year and new regulations that took a range of government activities out of the public eye. This storm-related incident is a sobering reminder that we are, still, in the dark.
On the heels of the jack-knifed truck, we should again raise the question of whether Oregon faces a greater risk from terrorists who search out waste transport routes or from the folks that drive them through unwitting communities. We can’t escape our geographic proximity to Hanford. But we can reduce related hazards by keeping the public informed.
Wyden’s remarks:
Details on shield law ruling · 21 December 08
Details about last week’s court ruling, which extended Oregon’s shield law to protect anonymous posters on media web sites, are now online. The Citizen Media Law Project has posted relevant a summary of the decision online, along with pdfs of related court filings.
Lee van der VooComment [1373]