Silent auction raises nearly $500 for Sunshine Fund to defend open government

FOI Oklahoma's silent auction raised nearly $500 for its Sunshine Fund to defend open government, said Bryan Dean, the organization's president.

The auction, held during the Sunshine Week Conference on Saturday in Oklahoma City, was the non-profit's first such attempt to raise money for the fund.

"Not bad for a first effort," said Dean, a reporter for The Oklahoman. "Next year, it will be bigger and better, so save up your money now."

In January, FOI Oklahoma awarded its first $1,000 grant from the fund to help support the costs of an Open Meeting Act lawsuit filed by non-journalists.

Through grants to plaintiffs and by initiating its own lawsuits, the organization hopes to discourage "obvious and egregious" violations of the state's Open Meeting and Open Records laws.

Donations to the Sunshine Fund also can be mailed to 215 E. Sixth St., Edmond, OK 73034. Please make checks payable to FOI Oklahoma Inc. but note that the donation is for the Sunshine Fund.

Legislators want Oklahoma Secondary Schools Activities Association subject to state FOI laws

Two bills would give the public access to the records and meetings of the non-profit organization that regulates high school sports and other activities such as music, speech and debate competitions in Oklahoma.

Senate Bill 1729, filed by Sen. Charlie Laster, D-Shawnee, would amend the state Open Records Act to specifically name the Oklahoma Secondary Schools Activities Association as a public body.

That bill is scheduled for a hearing Tuesday before the state Senate Judiciary Committee, of which Laster is a member.

SB 1965, filed by Sen. Harry Coates, R-Seminole, would amend the Open Records and Open Meeting acts to include "any association which coordinates, supervises, and regulates interscholastic activities and contest in which its member schools, including member public schools, pay a fee."

The bill has been referred to the Senate Education Committee for a hearing.

In September, OSSAA's former executive secretary pleaded guilty to embezzling $421,500 from the organization. He admitted to taking the money to pay off loans and gambling debts. He did not go to prison.

Shortly afterward, the new executive secretary, Ed Sheakley, said no one had ever submitted a request for OSSAA's records and he was uncertain how such a request would be handled.

In a posting on this blog, Oologah Lake Leader Publisher John M. Wylie II said the embezzlement case made it "abundantly clear that OSSAA must be classified as a public agency."

"It is funded with public money and should be subject to all the laws that go with that—including annual state audits. Giving OSSAA the discretion to choose what state transparency laws it follows would clearly be a case of letting the fox guard the henhouse," he wrote.

Wylie called upon lawmakers to clarify OSSAA’s status.

"It is the public’s money, not OSSAA’s, and the public has a right to know that it is being spent responsibly," Wylie wrote.


Joey Senat, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
OSU School of Journalism
as a public body.

Oklahoma Secondary Schools Activities Association must be accountable to taxpayers, students

(Danny Rennels, OSSAA’s former executive secretary, pleaded guilty Thursday to embezzling $421,500 from the organization. He admitted to taking the money to pay off loans and gambling debts. He will not go to prison and has 30 days to pay restitution.

OSSAA regulates not only high school sports in Oklahoma but also other activities such as music, speech and debate competitions.

The following is a recent column by Oologah Lake Leader Publisher John M. Wylie II in which he makes a case for OSSAA to be subject to the state’s open government laws.)

We’re not sure what the most shocking revelation was when Danny Rennels, who served for a decade as the chief regulator of Oklahoma high school athletics and activities, was charged with felony embezzlement Monday. Among the revelations contained in a probable cause affidavit used to secure an arrest warrant:

• The total amount taken is at least $457,500—almost five times the amount acknowledged by his employer, the Oklahoma Secondary Schools Activities Association, when it fired him in March. According to the affidavit, Rennels has admitted embezzling the funds.

• The man responsible for ensuring legal and ethical conduct of student athletes admitted to OSSAA officials that he spent the money on Internet gambling.

• He apparently took $100,000—the first installment under a five-year endorsement deal with Reebok that required all Oklahoma schools to use their basketballs in tournament play even though the schools weren’t consulted—that school officials were told would provide catastrophic injury insurance for high school athletes.

• Even though OSSAA is governed by a board composed of school officials, “Rennels had exclusive control over the day-to-day handling and expenditure of OSSAA funds.”

• Rennels’ fund diversions began with $16,000 in rights fees from an Oklahoma City television station in 2005 and escalated to $174,000 in rights fees and sales of a prime billboard location in 2006. He obtained an OSSAA credit card in 2007 which he used for personal expenses totaling $26,000 over two years and embezzled another $14,000 in TV rights fees. In 2008 it was $217,000 (including the Reebok money) and in 2009—when he was employed for just three months--$161,000.

• Although the DA investigator handling the case wanted 10 felony counts filed, his boss filed only one and bond was set at a measly $2,000.

Why is the last point important? Because it reeks of a deal in the works, and since OSSAA is classified as a “private, non-profit” organization it is not subject to the state’s Open Records act. (New Executive Secretary Ed Sheakley said no one has ever submitted a request for records and he is uncertain how such a request would be handled.)

Never mind that OSSAA regulates the lives of every student athlete and activity participant in the state.

Never mind that it wouldn’t have a dime without drawing funds from taxpayer-supported programs ranging from football to debate.

Never mind that taxpayers have no way to ensure that OSSAA is properly handling their money.

The Rennels case makes it abundantly clear that OSSAA must be classified as a public agency. It is funded with public money and should be subject to all the laws that go with that—including annual state audits. Giving OSSAA the discretion to choose what state transparency laws it follows would clearly be a case of letting the fox guard the henhouse.

We hope lawmakers will make OSSAA’s status clear in the next session. Lawmakers who balk can expect stiff opposition in November 2010.

It is the public’s money, not OSSAA’s, and the public has a right to know that it is being spent responsibly.

Boards administering grants funded by tax dollars are subject to state’s FOI laws

Any board administering a grant funded by tax dollars must abide by Oklahoma’s Open Records and Open Meeting laws, public officials were reminded this week.

Assistant Attorney General Gay Tudor also reiterated that cell phone texting and e-mail correspondence would violate the Open Meeting Act if public business were discussed, The Claremore Daily Progress reported.

Tudor also noted such correspondence would be open to public inspection under the Open Records Act, the newspaper said.

In a written opinion this past May, Attorney General Drew Edmondson said records of government business belong to the public even if they are created, received or stored on an official’s private smart phone or laptop.

“To conclude otherwise would allow public officials and employees to circumvent the open records laws simply by using privately owned personal electronic communication devices to conduct public business,” the opinion (09-12) said.

At an open government workshop in Claremore on Tuesday, Edmondson and Tudor answered questions regarding the state’s Open Records and Open Meeting laws. About 75 people, including county and municipal officials and representatives from public boards, attended the seminar, the newspaper reported.

Tudor warned officials not to abuse statutory exemptions allowing for closed-door executive sessions. ““It’s very important for the public to know they can trust you,” she said.

The next seminar will be Aug. 31 in Tecumseh. The workshops, sponsored by FOI Oklahoma Inc. and the Oklahoma Press Association, are free and open to the public.

The written opinion in May warned public officials and employees not to alter or destroy public records on their private communication devices unless allowed to do under the state Records Management Act.

“E-mails, text messages and other electronic communications made or received in connection with the transaction of public business, the expenditure of public funds or the administration of public property are subject to the Oklahoma Open Records Act, [its exemptions] and the Records Management Act regardless of whether they are created, received, transmitted or maintained by government officials on publicly or privately owned equipment and communications devices,” the opinion concluded.


Joey Senat, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
OSU School of Journalism

Welcome to FOI Oklahoma Inc.

Afternoon session today at the NFOIC Summit in Minneapolis emphasized using new technology, such as blogs, Twitter and RSS Feeds, to get our message and information to the public. So here we are.

We'll be joining Twitter and adding an RSS Feed soon.

We be posting information related to open meetings and records in Oklahoma. Feel free to ask questions about open government in the state.

-- Joey Senat, Ph.D.