Gregoire made right choice releasing records

• Published September 09, 2007

The irony was inescapable: Gov. Chris Gregoire refusing to turn over records associated with a committee studying access to public records.

Under a new law, Gregoire got to appoint six of the 13 members of a new "Sunshine Committee." The job of the committee members is to scrub state laws and Open Public Records Act to determine why 10 exemptions to the open public records act has grown to more than 300 today.

The expectation is the Sunshine Committee will get rid of unnecessary exemptions and return the law to what the citizens intended when they passed it by initiative in 1972. The Sunshine Committee is all about opening up government and letting the sun shine in — giving members of the public access to the records of their governing officials.

And how did Gov. Gregoire respond to an Associated Press request for public records associated with her six committee appointees? She turned over some documents but has kept secret several resumes, letters and e-mail exchanges detailing unsuccessful applicants to the committee. She said an exemption to the law allows her to withhold records associated with applications for public employment.

Open government experts scoffed at Gregoire's reasoning, noting that compensation for Sunshine Committee service is limited to travel reimbursements that several members don't actually qualify for. "That doesn't make them employees of the state," said Toby Nixon, acting president of the Washington Coalition for Open Government and a former state legislator. "I don't think what the governor is doing in terms of withholding these documents, claiming they are applications for employment, is right at all."

Neither do we but, Melynda Campbell, a Gregoire legal assistant, said the administration considers every person appointed to a board or commission by the governor a public employee under the Public Records Act exemption.

Gregoire looked especially tainted on this issue because State Auditor Brian Sonntag and Attorney General Rob McKenna agreed to turn over the records from their offices dealing with their appointments to the Sunshine Committee.

What added to the irony was the fact that as Attorney General, Gregoire at least appeared to be far more supportive of open government.

Back in 2001, during a statewide audit of responses to requests for records, then- Attorney General Gregoire said, "The bottom line is that people are entitled to pretty much any document that comes to my mind." Withholding documents builds skepticism, Gregoire said at the time, and makes people believe government is "hiding something." "When (citizens) are denied unjustly, they feel completely disenfranchised from government. They lose trust."

Apparently Gregoire was reminded of that fact because Friday she did an about face and agreed to release the Sunshine Committee records sought by the AP. It was definitely the right decision because by withholding Sunshine Committee records, Gregoire only added to the public's skepticism and lack of trust.