April 26, 2006 Open Records Laws and Newspaper Reports

The open records laws in Tennessee are critically important to newspapers, citizens, and others who wish to know what their government is doing.

I am a member of the Tennessee Coalition for Open Government (TCOG). This group stands for openness and "sunshine" in government at all levels.

Several weeks ago, the local newspaper, the Citizen Tribune, ran article after article and editorial after editorial with words of praise and support for Tennessee's open records laws.

As a member of TCOG, I was certainly very pleased to see the Tribune exhibiting such passionate support of open records laws in Tennessee.

But where is the Tribune when the rubber hits the road?

The Sheriff of Hamblen County was recently sued over his refusal to provide public records to an individual. A citizen has only one option when denied access to public records-- that option is to file a lawsuit against the government official that denied access.

Apparently, the individual did file suit and the Sheriff responded quickly after the lawsuit was filed, saying it was all a mistake, and belatedly providing the record.

Maybe the Sheriff really thought that personnel records of public employees (with confidential information like SS# and bank information, etc. blacked out) were not public records. Maybe the Sheriff just didn't know the open records laws.

Maybe the Sheriff thought he could ignore the request and the person would go away (as often happens when people are confronted by the power and occasional arrogance of the government).

Maybe the Sheriff wasn't concerned at all because, right or wrong, he has a government-paid attorney to defend his actions.

But where is the Tribune article shedding sunshine on this situation?

Where is the reporting on what actually happened? What was the Sheriff's position? What was the citizen's position?

I, too, have been involved in situations where I had to file suit against government officials in order to gain access to public records.

More on public records in my next post...