The ruling restored my faith in the current Iowa SUPCO. I didn’t know about the Brenna piece. Thanks for taking deeper and pointing that out! Makes this victory, even sweeter!
Great analysis. Bob Woodward recently spoke at Drake and reminded the audience that President Nixon expressed the view that the press is the enemy. Woodward noted that this view is maintained by former President Trump and many Republicans. I expect the Iowa legislature to revise the law to exempt the governor from its application.
Great column. Many years ago, when I was working the police beat In Clinton on a holiday weekend a surly police desk sergeant refused to give me some arrest records and launched into a tirade about how much he hated the news media. Didn’t know me from Adam. I said, “I’m the public too, and I expect the same courtesy as anyone who comes up to this counter or calls on that telephone.” It was at a joint city-county law center, and a sheriff’s lieutenant (who happened to be running for sheriff) was much more accommodating. Intentionally or not, he must have made an impression on the police desk sergeant, who grabbed the arrest sheets and tossed them across the counter to me.
Public servants need to understand the media is the public’s eyes and ears. If they don’t get that, well, there’s the old saying you catch more flies with sugar. Play nice, kids.
Pat, there's always a natural tension between police and journalists, but things are a lot better these days with the addition of PIO's who understand what we do and know that the media can often help disseminate information that helps police do their jobs.. I often ran across the "surly" cops back in the day while out on the streets, but now all they have to do is call the PIO and let him or her worry about the reporters.
Nicely done. We'll see if she complies in the future. What are the consequences of non-compliance? A fine? She'll laugh that off and pay no consequences, I fear.
No fine that I know of but we'll see if the case, now remanded back to the district court, plays out like we hope it will, and perhaps with recovery of attorney fees.
Correction: An earlier version of this column mistakenly referred to Governor Branstad in a quote by Bleeding Heartland's Laura Belin. That's my error. The reference should be to Governor Reynolds. I've corrected it here.
Thanks again for your analysis. We're left with a couple questions. 1) like others, will the Gov now use unreasonably high fees to thwart compliance? 2) for what reason did the Gov try so hard to keep secrets? It wasn't covid or staff issues. Will we see some embarrassing info from her handling of the head of DHS & the Iowa Vets Home, etc?
Finally, it's a shame there are no consequences because, essentially she was breaking Iowa law.
Bob, there's always a possibility of fees when placing an FOI request. It could be copying fees, which are supposed to be reasonable, and it could be staff/attorney time to remove confidential information. That can add up pretty quickly.
The governor's office never offered any reasons for delay. There was no communication at all. Until the lawsuit was filed. Then, attorneys indeed argued that staff was busy handling the pandemic. I can understand how that might delay responses for a while, but the oldest of the requests went back a year and a half prior to filing of the lawsuit. Laura Belin's post of 12-16-21, when the lawsuit was filed, has a good list of her requests and the emails she sent to the governor's office. https://www.bleedingheartland.com/2021/12/16/were-suing-governor-reynolds-over-open-records-violations/
Scroll down a bit to see Exhibit A, B, etc.
The FOI requests were varied in nature. Some dealt with how state government was handling the pandemic. For instance, Bleeding Heartland requested copies of videos Reynolds had recorded for the meatpacking industry, which was hit hard by Covid-related illnesses and death. Bleeding Heartland had also asked for documents regarding which groups had events at Terrace Hill and who paid for those events.
Thanks for this column. An important victory. We the people have a right to information about the working of our own government.
The ruling restored my faith in the current Iowa SUPCO. I didn’t know about the Brenna piece. Thanks for taking deeper and pointing that out! Makes this victory, even sweeter!
Thanks, Terri. Still a long ways to go on the fundamentals of the case as it's sent back to the district court.
Great analysis. Bob Woodward recently spoke at Drake and reminded the audience that President Nixon expressed the view that the press is the enemy. Woodward noted that this view is maintained by former President Trump and many Republicans. I expect the Iowa legislature to revise the law to exempt the governor from its application.
John, I hope you're wrong, obviously. But nothing would surprise me these days.
Great column. Many years ago, when I was working the police beat In Clinton on a holiday weekend a surly police desk sergeant refused to give me some arrest records and launched into a tirade about how much he hated the news media. Didn’t know me from Adam. I said, “I’m the public too, and I expect the same courtesy as anyone who comes up to this counter or calls on that telephone.” It was at a joint city-county law center, and a sheriff’s lieutenant (who happened to be running for sheriff) was much more accommodating. Intentionally or not, he must have made an impression on the police desk sergeant, who grabbed the arrest sheets and tossed them across the counter to me.
Public servants need to understand the media is the public’s eyes and ears. If they don’t get that, well, there’s the old saying you catch more flies with sugar. Play nice, kids.
Pat, there's always a natural tension between police and journalists, but things are a lot better these days with the addition of PIO's who understand what we do and know that the media can often help disseminate information that helps police do their jobs.. I often ran across the "surly" cops back in the day while out on the streets, but now all they have to do is call the PIO and let him or her worry about the reporters.
Nicely done. We'll see if she complies in the future. What are the consequences of non-compliance? A fine? She'll laugh that off and pay no consequences, I fear.
No fine that I know of but we'll see if the case, now remanded back to the district court, plays out like we hope it will, and perhaps with recovery of attorney fees.
Correction: An earlier version of this column mistakenly referred to Governor Branstad in a quote by Bleeding Heartland's Laura Belin. That's my error. The reference should be to Governor Reynolds. I've corrected it here.
Wow. Your second to last paragraph was a mic drop, Dave. Rich irony there....
Right?
How ironic that Brenna Bird wrote those words.
It’s almost like the supremes stuck that in there as a bit of a knife twist.
Thanks Dave Busiek! Your comments on this Iowa Supreme Court ruling add to the
compassion of Iowans who demand a FREE and OPEN PRESS, being a vital concept to our democracy in Iowa.
The ignorance revealed from Gov. Reynolds and the Republican legislature is bad enough. You mean there's more that they don't want us to see?
Thanks again for your analysis. We're left with a couple questions. 1) like others, will the Gov now use unreasonably high fees to thwart compliance? 2) for what reason did the Gov try so hard to keep secrets? It wasn't covid or staff issues. Will we see some embarrassing info from her handling of the head of DHS & the Iowa Vets Home, etc?
Finally, it's a shame there are no consequences because, essentially she was breaking Iowa law.
Bob, there's always a possibility of fees when placing an FOI request. It could be copying fees, which are supposed to be reasonable, and it could be staff/attorney time to remove confidential information. That can add up pretty quickly.
The governor's office never offered any reasons for delay. There was no communication at all. Until the lawsuit was filed. Then, attorneys indeed argued that staff was busy handling the pandemic. I can understand how that might delay responses for a while, but the oldest of the requests went back a year and a half prior to filing of the lawsuit. Laura Belin's post of 12-16-21, when the lawsuit was filed, has a good list of her requests and the emails she sent to the governor's office. https://www.bleedingheartland.com/2021/12/16/were-suing-governor-reynolds-over-open-records-violations/
Scroll down a bit to see Exhibit A, B, etc.
The FOI requests were varied in nature. Some dealt with how state government was handling the pandemic. For instance, Bleeding Heartland requested copies of videos Reynolds had recorded for the meatpacking industry, which was hit hard by Covid-related illnesses and death. Bleeding Heartland had also asked for documents regarding which groups had events at Terrace Hill and who paid for those events.