GOP gubernatorial candidates to participate in Sunshine Conference

Republican gubernatorial candidates Sen. Randy Brogdon and Robert Hubbard have agreed to discuss their views on government transparency at FOI Oklahoma Inc.'s third annual Sunshine Week conference.

Oklahoma Sunshine ’10: Privacy, Politicians & the Public’s Need to Know will be held March 13 at The Oklahoman, 9000 N. Broadway, Oklahoma City.

The conference will celebrate FOI Oklahoma Inc.'s 20th anniversary and preview what's ahead for open government in the state.

Experts will discuss the issue of individual privacy versus the public’s need to know. State legislators are considering exempting government employees' dates of birth from the Open Records Act. SB 1753, filed by Sen. Debbe Leftwich, D-Oklahoma City, comes on the heels of a state attorney general opinion that those birth dates are presumed open and may be withheld only if officials can demonstrate on a case-by-case basis that disclosure would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of privacy that outweighs the public interest. (2009 OK AG 33)

The conference's afternoon session will feature a question-and-answer session with candidates for governor and attorney general. All those candidates were invited last Thursday to participate in the session. Each candidate will be afforded three minutes to initially state his or her position on open government and any proposals regarding government transparency and the state’s open meeting and records laws.

Brogdon of Owasso and Hubbard, a Yukon businessman, are the first to accept the invitation.

The recipients of FOI Oklahoma's three annual FOI awards will be announced during the conference luncheon.

Early registration for the conference must be received by March 10.

Non-members: $30 (Includes lunch and one-year membership in FOI Oklahoma Inc.)

College/High School Students: $15 (Includes lunch and one-year membership in FOI Oklahoma Inc.)

FOI Oklahoma Inc. Members: $10

Additional $5 for registrations received after March 10

Make check or money order payable to FOI Oklahoma.

Mail payment to:
Oklahoma Sunshine '10
Oklahoma Library Association
300 Hardy Drive, Edmond, OK 73013
405–525–5100 • Fax: 405–525–5103
kboies@sbcglobal.net

Purchase Orders, and Visa and MasterCard payments can also be accepted.
Please contact the Oklahoma Library Association.

More information will be posted on the FOI Oklahoma Web site in the coming weeks.


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

Cherokee Nation officials told not to violate tribe's open meeting law

Cherokee Nation officials didn't criminally violate the tribe's open meeting law when they met secretly to discuss its budget in August, tribal Attorney General Diane Hammons concluded recently.

But she doesn't want them doing it again without posting the proper notice and agenda required by the statute.

The Cherokee Nation Freedom of Information Act, enacted in 2001, requires public bodies to post agendas 10 days in advance of regular meetings and 24 hours head of special meetings.

An investigation by Hammons' office found that no meeting notice or agenda had been posted for the budget meeting between "no less than" 10 Tribal Council members and Principal Chief Chad Smith.

Council members "generally seen as philosophically aligned with the Principal Chief" were invited via e-mail to the meeting, Hammons said in a written opinion Feb. 5.

(The opinion is available through the Cherokee Phoenix Web site.)

The council members constituted a quorum of the council's Executive and Finance Committee, the opinion said.

However, Hammons said the tribe's open meeting law requires that violations must have been "committed both willfully and maliciously."

Therefore, she said in the opinion, the meeting did not constitute a criminal violation because the participants didn't believe they were violating the tribe's Freedom of Information Act.

Not everyone on the Tribal Council agrees with Hammons' conclusion.

“With all respect to the AG, the conduct of the meeting was, in my view, ‘willful’ and the secretive nature of it strikes me as being borne of malice towards the people’s right to know,” said one of the three Tribal Council members who requested the opinion.

Chuck Hoskin Jr. told the Tahlequah Daily Press that he believes Smith is well-aware of the rules and chose to disregard them.

“The AG’s investigation confirms, sadly, that the administration is willing to thumb its nose at the public when it comes to how the tribe spends the people’s money,” Hoskin said.

The newspaper reported that the tribal councilors calling for the investigation were appalled when they learned of the meeting.

“The idea that the administration would summon a majority of our budget-writing committee to hash out the annual budget in a room at the casino with no public notice was outrageous,” Councilor Jodie Fishinghawk told the newspaper.

Sure seems as though the statute leaves Cherokee Nation officials with an easy defense when they're accused of conducting an illegal meeting: Nope, we didn't think we were breaking the law.

(Read Tulsa World coverage of Hammons' opinion.)


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

Candidates for Norman City Council, House District 44 sign Open Government Pledge

Two candidates for Norman City Council Ward 4 have signed FOI Oklahoma Inc.'s Open Government Pledge.

By doing so, Carol Dillingham and Austin Dyches each promised, "I and the public bodies that I am elected to govern will comply with not only the letter but also the spirit of Oklahoma's Open Meeting and Open Records laws."

Dillingham, the incumbent, faces Dyches and two other opponents in the March 2 election.

Norman's two mayoral candidates also have made the same commitment.

Isaiah McCaslin, a Democrat seeking the state House District 44 seat in Norman, also has vowed to support open government in Oklahoma. He is the first candidate for a legislative seat in the fall 2010 election to sign the pledge.

Legislative candidates specifically promise to "support legislation to strengthen the letter and the spirit of Oklahoma's Open Meeting and Open Records laws."

Freedom of Information Oklahoma Inc. invites other legislative candidates and those running for statewide and municipal offices to sign the pledge.

Instructions and a list of signers for the 2010 elections can be found on FOI Oklahoma’s Web site.

FOI Oklahoma began the Open Government Pledge in spring 2008 as part of a national effort to spur public commitments to government transparency from candidates for president down to city council contests.

For the 2008 and 2009 elections, 58 candidates for local or statewide offices signed the pledge. Of those, 28 were elected.


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

OU student government rescinds, repasses bill because of possible Open Meeting Act violation

The UOSA Undergraduate Student Congress rescinded and then approved again on Tuesday a bill originally approved last week in a possible violation of the state Open Meeting Act, the University of Oklahoma student newspaper reported today.

The Oklahoma Daily had criticized the student legislators for violating the Open Meeting Act. The newspaper had reported that the UOSA Undergraduate Student Congress approved a bill not listed as an item on the group’s agenda in its office.

An attorney told the newspaper that the bill was not "new business" because it could have been reasonably foreseen prior to the time the agenda was posted.

“The fact that ‘Joe College’ thought of it just before the meeting does not mean it’s new business,” said Jim Milton of Doerner Saunders Daniel & Anderson LLP in Tulsa.


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

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.

Senate committee OKs bills to exempt public employee birth dates, film proposals, stop court clerks from charging more than 25 cents per copy

The state Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday unanimously approved a bill exempting government employees' dates of birth from the Open Records Act, The Oklahoman reported today.

However, the bill's title -- a requirement to become law -- was removed after some committee members expressed concerns about some of the legislation's language, the newspaper said.

Senate Bill 1753 next goes to the full Senate for consideration along with two other records-related bills approved by the committee on Tuesday.

SB 1351, filed by Sen. David Myers, R-Ponca City, would keep confidential certain film proposals to the state Film and Music Office.

SB 1318, filed by Sen. Patrick Anderson, R-Enid, would limit court clerks to 25 cent per page for documents requested under the Open Records Act. Anderson is the Judiciary Committee chairman.

SB 1753 was filed by Sen. Debbe Leftwich, D-Oklahoma City.

She told The Oklahoman that the bill wasn't requested by local officials but was based on her reaction to a state attorney general opinion that she had requested on behalf of Oklahoma City officials.

In that opinion, Attorney General Drew Edmondson said the birth dates of public employees are presumed open and may be withheld only if officials can demonstrate on a case-by-case basis that disclosure would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of privacy that outweighs the public interest. (2009 OK AG 33)

Given that public employees' Social Security numbers, home addresses and telephone numbers are already exempted, SB 1753 would make it virtually impossible to determine if those employees have committed crimes, evaded paying taxes, filed for bankruptcy or made political contributions.

Background on the bill and the issues surrounding public access to the birth dates of government employees can be found in this earlier posting on this blog.


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

SPJ & NFOIC seek nominees for Open Government Hall of Fame

The Society of Professional Journalists and National Freedom of Information Coalition want to "recognize long-term contributions of individuals to open government in their respective states."

They are creating a Heroes of the 50 States: The State Open Government Hall of Fame.

Other groups also want to recognize those who've fought for the public's right to know at the state and local level.

The American Society of News Editors is seeking nominees to identify the top three Local Heroes of 2010 who fought tirelessly last year to make their state or local public institutions more open and accessible.

FOI Oklahoma is seeking nominations for its annual awards competition recognizing individuals and organizations that promote the free flow of information to the public and the government agency that attempted most to thwart the public's right to know.

All the awards are part of the national Sunshine Week celebration March 14 - 19.

SPJ and NFOIC are seeking to recognize people "who may be well known within their respective states and communities, but whose labors have gone unrecognized elsewhere. Heroes whose efforts have kept state and local government records and meetings open and accessible to their fellow citizens."

Specifically, induction into the Hall recognizes “long and steady effort to preserve and protect the free flow of information about state and local government that is vital to the public in a democracy.”

One person will be inducted into the Hall of Fame each spring.

Nominees may come from government, the media, the non-profit sector, the legal profession, or any other area of endeavor that involves citizen access to government records, meetings and procedures. Nominees may be living or dead, active or retired. Judges will consider only accomplishments at the state and local level.

Nominations should include a cover letter identifying the nominee and the person or group making the nomination, and adequate support material to demonstrate the worthiness of the nominee.

The deadline for nominations is Feb. 15. Nomination materials should be sent to:

Charles Davis
Executive Director
NFOIC Headquarters
University of Missouri
101 Reynolds Journalism Institute
Columbia, MO 65211