This article appeared in today’s Spokesman Review, but left out some important information regarding Washington State’s “government openness”.

http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2015/nov/08/study-washington-idaho-score-low-on-government-ope/

_____________________________________________________________________

To begin with Washington State is one of the most liberal States when it comes to “government openness”. Washington State’s Public Records Act (PRA) is pretty consistent in establishing the public’s right to know, and the Washington State Supreme Court has ruled time, and time again in favor of the public’s right to know. Some of those Supreme Court Decisions have become somewhat legendary on the national scene.

As an example, a recent WSSC decision makes messages from private phones or email accounts of public officials that involve the conducting of public business PUBLIC RECORDS which the public has a right to see.

Here is a pretty good synopsis of the case if you don’t wish to read the entire case.

http://www.courts.wa.gov/content/publicupload/eclips/2015%2008%2028%20State%20Supreme%20Court%20rules%20against%20Lindquist%20in%20phone%20records%20case.pdf

______________________________________________________________________

As I type this blog post Public Officials all over the State, and especially here in Spokane as a result of my recent FOIA, are trying to figure out ways to evade the Lindquist decision. The Lindquist decision does have its drawbacks for the public however as public officials were quick to realize the need to revert back to pre-technology days when decisions were made and secrets kept by meeting face to face (no more smoke filled rooms though).

You might ask…so what is the problem. The answer is pretty simple and is alluded to in Jim Camden’s article.

Quote from Article:

Most were graded down for public access to information and ethics enforcement, he said in an emailed response to a question about the fairness of a system that has such low overall grades.

 

“The majority of states have serious deficiencies in those areas, such as open records laws riddled with exemptions and no entities tasked to oversee compliance with those open records laws,” he said.

_______________________________________________________________________

The fact is in Washington State there is NO “ETHICS ENFORCEMENT” when it comes to State and Local Agencies violating or obstructing the PRA. The only option for private citizens or the deeper pocket media is to take their PRA case to court with hopes of recovering attorney fees and relatively small amounts of fines from the violating public agency. Ironically the attorney’s fees and fines are paid using public money. There was a time when citizens could count on the Cowles Family and the Spokesman Review to battle it out in court for them and many of the leading PRA cases in this State were initiated by the Spokesman Review, something Jim Camden should well remember. Unfortunately, that is no longer the case, primarily because Stacey Cowles has gutted the SR to the point they are no longer what they were at one time. As an example SR Public Records Requests now have a caveat at the end of the request to let the agency know if fulfilling the request will be in excess of $150.00, which in and of itself is very telling.

Most people aren’t aware that the Washington State Attorney actually has an “Open Government Ombudsman” whom I have found to be quite lacking from the standpoint of the FOIAs I have been involved in, and there is a conflict of interest with the AG when seeking records from State Agencies.

http://www.atg.wa.gov/open-government-ombuds-function

In reality the question of ethics boils down to the ethics and integrity of the individual who within the public agency is appointed the legal responsibility for responding to public records requests. They have a choice of yielding to the pressure they receive from within or doing what is right and fulfilling their responsibilities.

___________________________________________________________________________

RCW 42.56.580

Public records officers.

 

 

(1) Each state and local agency shall appoint and publicly identify a public records officer whose responsibility is to serve as a point of contact for members of the public in requesting disclosure of public records and to oversee the agency’s compliance with the public records disclosure requirements of this chapter. A state or local agency’s public records officer may appoint an employee or official of another agency as its public records officer.

 

     (2) For state agencies, the name and contact information of the agency’s public records officer to whom members of the public may direct requests for disclosure of public records and who will oversee the agency’s compliance with the public records disclosure requirements of this chapter shall be published in the state register at the time of designation and maintained thereafter on the code reviser web site for the duration of the designation.

 

     (3) For local agencies, the name and contact information of the agency’s public records officer to whom members of the public may direct requests for disclosure of public records and who will oversee the agency’s compliance within the public records disclosure requirements of this chapter shall be made in a way reasonably calculated to provide notice to the public, including posting at the local agency’s place of business, posting on its internet site, or including in its publications.

 ______________________________________________________________________

 

As many people know I’m in a battle on my own with the City over public release of the Cotton/Straub case (not my first Rodeo) and the City is making every effort to hide the facts so I thought I would post some examples of what the average citizen has to go through to get to the truth.

ARE YOU BEING SERVED??

http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2015/nov/07/police-confirm-officer-involved-shooting-at-cenex-/comments/

The answer is simple “DON’T HIDE…PROVIDE”, because Spokane like almost every other City these days is made up of four distinct groups similar to the groups associated with political issues and voting.

1. Group Number ONE, the largest group, is made up of folks who are concerned about the various news reports identifying misconduct and mismanagement of the people who have the responsibility of protecting them but are at the same time not willing to believe that things are really as bad, or for that matter as good as, they are portrayed in the press.
2. Group Number TWO, is made up of folks who feel strongly that Police Officers no matter the situation can do little or no wrong.
3. Group Number THREE, is made up of folks who feel strongly that Police Officers no matter the situation can do little or no right.
4. Group Number FOUR, is made up of folks who just don’t give a damn one way or the other.

*(There is a fifth group but they are the ones that just hope cops are real lousy at catching them, so they don’t count)

Since gaining the TRUST of the Community is of paramount importance to my old organization (SPD) I am going to suggest that they and Mayor Condon approach the battle like a political campaign and target the largest group, which I am convinced is Group #1. SPD already has #2 in their pockets, there will be a few converts from #3 but the diehards will remain, and people that don’t give a damn will just continue not to give a damn.

Political campaigns always hire political strategists to run campaigns and I know they always target the biggest voting block which is the Independents who are somewhat analogous to Group #1 in this battle. Having worked as a hired gun, so to speak, in both Republican and Democrat campaigns I quickly learned there are primarily two types, the dishonest and dirty campaign that each side accuses the other of being, and the honest and upfront campaign that each side maintains they are running. My recommendation, as it always was to political campaigns, to SPD, the Mayor, and City Council is to run a campaign that for a change is “honest and upfront” because it will have the greatest impact in drawing the most folks from Group #1 into the fold, and will also help to bring in some converts from Group #3. Just forget about Group #4, it is what it is.

Unfortunately, here in Spokane citizens are at a disadvantage in this campaign because we just don’t have the fact checkers you ordinarily see during big political campaigns where fact checkers are hired by both sides and media outlets actually bring in fact checkers to research the facts. A perfect example is Mayor Condon’s false claim that crime has gone down during his administration when in fact it has gone up considerably. That falsehood I time and again pointed out but the Spokesman Review never bothered to do any fact checking as the lies were fed to them time and time again. Sure Nick Deshais wrote a fact checking piece three days before the election which has to make people wonder just how concerned some of the media is in doing their job as fact checkers and overseers of government.

Here is a short list of a few suggestions for beginning a New Honest and Upfront Campaign.

1. Quit lying about the fact that there isn’t a big problem with the SPD the extent of which you have tried to hide.
2. Quit lying about crime data, caseload data, manpower allocation, and Golden Goose money.
3. Quit lying about the OPO and the OPOC having independent investigative authority as well as it being the best thing since sliced bread.
4. Quit lying about not giving the Guild control of body cameras.
5. Quit lying about the Cotton/Straub, Cortright/Straub issue.
6. Quit lying about the need for Straub’s “Precinct Model”.
7. Quit lying about all the dollars that have been wasted by ill-conceived programs at SPD.
8. Quit lying about the problems associated with a Culture Audit (COPS/DOJ even gave you the methodology).
9. Start implementing the UOFC and COPS/DOJ recommendations instead of trying to find a way around them and with all the recent OISs start implementing the recommendation to make the Deadly Force Review Board’s findings public.
10. Bring back non-manipulated AIM data so the public can see what you aren’t doing but should be.
11.  Release the number of, and names of “Brady Cops” currently on the job that have been provided to the Prosecutor.
12. Adhere to the Attorney General’s Opinion regarding body cameras and start a legitimate process for recommending changes to RCW 9.73.
13. Ask Jim McDevitt to resign from the new Police Chief search committee based on his past history with Straub and Smith.
14. Start accepting responsibility instead of blaming everyone from Obama to Bush and beyond.
15. DON’T HIDE… PROVIDE!

Great campaign strategy…right? I can’t wait to see what the Las Vegas Odds Makers come up with for odds of this strategy being implemented. My guess is around 10/1.

I’m wondering exactly what reading comprehension level a columnist has to write to for people that make vitriolic and nasty comments like these to understand anything. Whether the columnist is Conservative or Liberal it must be difficult to write at such a low level. Interesting also is some of the people making these comments are in fact “on the dole”, but more about that later.