You don’t see this that often, but it does happen and when it does the Courts get involved, depending on the lengths individuals want to go to in hiding things from the public even on occasion to the Washington State Supreme Court.

https://examplepro.me/2018/01/08/may-be-a-better-headline-would-be-bob-west-was-fired/

 

As you can see from Ms. Farnsworth’s email above the City has decided that due to the “sensitive nature” of the records I seek they have decided to contact Bob West and allow him to object to the release of the records because of their “sensitive nature”. Just to be clear, this is not Ms. Farnsworth’s decision, she is simply the messenger. DON’T KILL THE MESSENGER! 😊

Washington State Code does allow a government agency somewhat broad leeway in notifying third parties of their right to appeal disclosure to Superior Court, they must however be able to demonstrate a “reasonable belief that the record is arguably exempt from disclosure.”

This could get interesting should Bob West choose to block disclosure through Superior Court since the issue will likely hinge upon the Public’s right to know how their government conducts our business and whether the requested documents would be “highly offensive to a reasonable person.”

I’m always leery of things like this since in many cases the responsive records I receive show inappropriate handling of internal issues by an employee’s supervisors, and as we are all aware the Bob West case not only deals with electioneering on our time and with our resources, but also with Harassment in the work place, which the City has a record of not handling very well, but…we shall see!

 

I REPORT YOU DECIDE!!!