Appeal Tribune Wednesday, July 19, 2017 3A
Government must be more open to
comply with new public records laws
DIANE DIETZ
STATESMAN JOURNAL
Oregon’s top political leadership
tripped all over themselves in recent
months to make state and local govern-
ments easier for citizens to scrutinize.
The Legislature passed no fewer than
four public records laws -- pushed by the
governor and attorney general -- in the
session that just ended. And the secre-
tary of state weighed in unexpectedly
with his own plan for improving govern-
ment transparency.
The bills, Gov. Kate Brown said, “are
significant reforms to Oregon’s public
records laws -- and probably the most
significant reforms we’ve seen in multi-
ple decades.”
The bills amend Oregon’s 1973 public
records law, which established a pre-
sumption of openness. Citizens have the
right to obtain government documents
unless there’s a specific legal exemption
that prohibits them from doing so.
But over the 44 years since the law
was passed, interest groups have per-
suaded the Legislature to write 550-plus
exemptions from disclosure into the law,
and some governments drag their heels
about providing documents or charge
exorbitant fees to the requester.
The enthusiasm for improving the
records law this session was born of
frustration about getting documents
from the ill-fated administration of for-
mer Gov. John Kitzhaber, who resigned
in February 2015.
“The strength of our government in-
stitutions depend on the public trust, and
public trust can be quickly eroded when
people don’t feel they have access to the
work their government is doing or when
they can’t get answers to reasonable
questions,” Oregon Attorney General El-
len Rosenblum told lawmakers during
the session.
In October 2015, Rosenblum con-
vened a broadly representative Public
Records Law Reform Task Force. Rosen-
blum, Brown, Rep. John Huffman, R-
The Dalles, and Rep. Nancy Nathanson,
D-Eugene, each shepherded ideas gener-
ated by the task force into law.
The bills -- SB 481, SB 106, HB 2101,
HB 3361 -- establish three new commit-
tees, a public records advocate and a
chief data officer, all with responsibility
for studying and reporting how to make
Oregon government more open. Sepa-
rately, Secretary of State Dennis Rich-
ardson by administrative fiat made state
archivist Mary Beth Herkert the public
records advocate.
Brown’s bill provides for the appoint-
ment of a public records advocate, an at-
torney who will mediate in public rec-
ords disputes, train state agencies and
district attorneys on public records laws
and serve as chairperson of the Public
Records Advisory Council. That 13-
member body is tasked with studying is-
sues that arise under public records law
and to provide recommendations to the
governor and the Legislature.
Huffman’s bill creates a 15-member
Sunshine Committee to systematically
review the 550-plus exemptions to public
records law over the next nine years and
to recommend which can be abolished,
modified or let alone. On July 1 in even-
numbered years, the committee reports
its findings to a four-member Public
Records Subcommittee of the state’s
Legislative Counsel Committee. The
subcommittee would decide which of the
Sunshine Committee’s recommenda-
tions to pursue during the upcoming leg-
islative session.
Nathanson’s bill appoints a state chief
data officer to maintain a web portal of
government data to make it readily ac-
cessible to the public. The bill would also
prohibit software that would obstruct ac-
cess to data that should be accessible to
the public.
“It’s underfunded, but many counties
are doing this successfully and in the
long run it saves money, so maybe it will
grow legs at the state, too,” said public
records advocate and University of Ore-
gon Professor Bill Harbaugh.
‘The next year will tell as the newly
appointed advocates and committees get
to work whether they meet their intend-
ed purpose of speeding public access to
government records or mire even sim-
ple requests in Byzantine process.
“Our hope is that in most cases the
records advocate will operate like some
of the more informal omsbudspeople in
other states that deal with records -- just
use a quick phone call to try and get
things moving,” said Nick Budnick, a
volunteer with the Society of Profession-
al Journalist who testified on the bills.
When the records law was passed, it
contained 55 exemptions for sensitive in-
formation held by the state. That has
since grown tenfold.
“These exemptions are hidden and
scattered all over Oregon Revised Stat-
utes,” said Budnick, a reporter for the
Portland Tribune. “It’s very hard for the
average Jo or Josephine Citizen to figure
out exactly what’s public and what’s not.”
Rosenblum’s bill requires the Depart-
ment of Justice to create an online cata-
log of the exemptions that’s easy to
search and user-friendly.
The new database would represent an
about face from the AG’s historical
stance. Until 2009, the attorney general
sold the information in a 326-page book
for $25 each. The public would have to
seek out the book to research the exemp-
tions -- until Harbaugh, the UO profes-
sor, scanned the entire document and
posted it online. Later, the AG’s office it-
self posted the manual online.
Rosenblum’s bill also protects public
bodies from lawsuits when they supply
government information in good faith.
The bill also sets a timeline and
benchmarks for public agency response
to a record request. Previous law was
vague, saying only that the agencies had
to respond in a reasonable time -- which
some agencies saw as months.
The new law requires agencies to ac-
knowledge the request in five days and
to supply the documents within 10 days
of the acknowledgment in most cases.
Although they aren’t hard and fast dead-
lines, they do treat delay as a denial and
give citizens or journalists seeking infor-
mation a clearer path to appeal based on
timeliness.
Harbaugh is skeptical. The bill
doesn’t halt the use of delays and fees to
prevent the timely release of public rec-
ords, he said. “It fails to even attempt to
address the fee problem. Its main effect
is to create a presumptive deadline of 10
business days for public bodies to pro-
vide public records. However, this dead-
line comes with a few truck-sized loop-
holes.”
Huffman’s bill also makes it less easy
for new exemptions to slip into bills un-
noticed. Each bill that moves forward in
the Legislature gets a revenue or fiscal
impact statement written by profession-
al staff that lawmakers can review be-
fore they vote. The new records law re-
quires an “open government impact
statement” to now be prepared for the
bills.
Open government advocates are opti-
mistic the new laws will increase trans-
parency.
They’re “a significant step forward,”
Budnick said.
Becky Gladstone of the League of
Women Voters, who testified on the bills,
has “high hopes that it will be a huge im-
provement.”
Ex-governor, first lady face ethics investigation
STATESMAN JOURNAL
The Oregon Govern-
ment Ethics Commission
will launch a full investi-
gation into whether for-
mer Gov. John Kitzhaber
and First Lady Cylvia
Hayes used their posi-
tions for financial gain.
Commissioners took
the action at their regular
meeting Friday morning
after a 45 minute long,
closed-door session that
included Kitzhaber’s law-
yer, Janet Hoffman.
According to a prelimi-
nary review report, the in-
vestigation will look at
whether Kitzhaber or
Hayes used their official
positions for financial
gain. It will include an ex-
amination of Kitzhaber’s
and Hayes’ use of fre-
quent flyer programs
while traveling repre-
senting state govern-
ment. That practice vio-
lates state ethics rules.
It will look at whether
Kitzhaber and Hayes
properly disposed of vari-
ous conflicts of interest,
which could include al-
lowing Hayes to use state
resources, and attend
meetings in a dual capac-
ity as an unofficial advi-
sor and a paid consultant.
And preliminary infor-
mation suggests Hayes
may have accepted one or
more gifts in excess of the
$50 limit, including a
press spokesperson for
Hayes funded by the Ore-
gon Business Council, “an
organization that likely
had a legislative or admin-
istrative interest in the
decision-making of a poli-
THOMAS PATTERSON / STATESMAN JOURNAL
A state ethics panel is investigating whether former Gov. John
Kitzhaber and First Lady Cylvia Hayes used their positions for
financial gain.
cy adviser in the Office of
the Governor,” investiga-
tors wrote.
The
commission
launched the preliminary
review in fall 2014 after
then-state Rep. Vicki
Berger, R-Salem, and the
Oregon Republican Party
filed complaints.
In a preliminary re-
view, the commission’s
staffers have a set period
of time to finish a report
that goes to the full com-
mission, which then de-
cides whether to dismiss
the complaint or move to a
full-scale investigation.
That time period changed
from 135 days to 30 days in
2015.
The commission sus-
pended the preliminary
review in February 2015
when state and federal
criminal investigations
into Kitzhaber and Hayes
were launched.
On June 16 federal
prosecutors announced
they would close their
case without filing any
charges. On June 20, the
ethics commission an-
nounced it had resumed
its review.
The criminal inquiry
revolved around pay-
ments made to Hayes’
consulting companies by
groups seeking to influ-
ence state environmental
policy at the same time
she served as an unpaid
advisor to the governor.
Oregon’s government
ethics rules prohibit pub-
lic officials from using
their positions for finan-
cial gain and require pub-
lic officials to declare po-
tential or actual conflicts
of interest.
The standard of proof
for ethics violations is
lower than for criminal
charges.
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Neither Hoffman nor
Hayes’ attorney, Whitney
Boise, returned calls
seeking comment.
In a July 12 letter to the
commission,
Hoffman
said both the complaint
and the commission’s pre-
liminary report rely “al-
most entirely on news sto-
ries based on speculation
and cherry-picked ex-
cerpts from a handful of
former Gov. Kitzhaber’s
personal emails.”
“This politically moti-
vated complaint attack-
ing former Gov. Kitzha-
ber’s integrity should be
dismissed,”
Hoffman
wrote.
The commission dis-
agreed, voting unani-
mously, with two mem-
bers absent, to proceed.
Commission staffers
now have six months to
complete a full investiga-
tion.
Berger, who filed one
of the complaints, said she
is confident the ethics
commission will thor-
oughly investigate the
case.
“The issues which
“We will convey that
we are willing to take this
all the way and have a
strong case for prevail-
ing,” Kitzhaber wrote in a
Dec. 22, 2014 letter to his
lawyer. “But the end game
is not to actually have the
complaints dismissed but
rather to negotiate a stip-
ulated settlement agree-
ment in which we might
acknowledge some minor
mistakes we may have
made and have the matter
resolved at the March
meeting.”
tloew@statesmanjour-
nal.com, 503-399-6779 or
follow at Twitter.com/Tra-
cy_Loew
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Sunday School 9:15 a.m.
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500 N 2nd Street
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(503) 873-2635
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ST. MARY’S CHURCH
Pastor: Fr. Philip Waibel
575 E. College St. 503-845-2296
Weekday Mass 6:50 a.m.
Saturday Vigil Mass 5:30 p.m.
Sunday masses 7:30 a.m., 10 a.m.,
and 12:30 p.m. (Spanish Mass) at
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Saturday Services
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1159 Oak Street 873-8568
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“loving God… loving others”
Pastor Bob Henry
Silverton Christian School
229 Eureka Ave. • 873-5131
silvertonfriends@frontier.com
Adult Sunday School at 9:00 am
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Full Nursery Care • Youth Group
meets Thursday 7:00 pm
503-873-3530
410 Oak St, Silverton, OR, 97381 | kimsilvertonordentist.com
were the subject of my
original complaint re-
main viable,” she said.
In a statement, Oregon
Republican Party Chair-
man Bill Currier said the
action was welcome news.
“Perhaps it is the be-
ginning of the long over-
due exposing and rooting
out of corruption in our
state government, and fi-
nally holding accountable
those who engage in it,” he
said.
Kitzhaber likely will
try to settle the case, ac-
cording to emails re-
leased under a public rec-
ords request made by The
Oregonian.
IMMANUEL LUTHERAN CHURCH
Church Directory
TRACY LOEW
OR-0000392134