Our Voice: Don’t blame journalists for protecting open records

On Sunday, we gave Rep. Terry Nealey, R-Dayton, prominent space in our opinion section so he could justify proposed legislation restricting the state’s public records law.

His contention that there needs to be a way to rein in abusers of the Washington Public Records Act is valid, and we agree.

However, House Bill 2576 is not the way to do it. The restrictions are too severe, and we have reservations about its intent to establish a public records commission.

Nealey anticipated this might be our reaction. In his column, he blames newspaper lobbyists and editorial writers for thwarting past legislative attempts that would have made it more difficult to access public records.

He insinuates that journalists who oppose those past efforts are almost as bad as the vindictive citizens burdening government agencies with frivolous public records requests.

But that’s not what we are about.

We believe that access to public records is critical to ensuring transparency in government and that the system should be used for good and not to cause headaches for government staffers.

But if lawmakers want the newspaper industry to back changes to the open public records law — which is a core principle of a democratic society — then they should involve journalists in the crafting of that legislation right from the beginning.

Instead, lawmakers suggest changes to a precious component of our public governing system without any input from the newspaper industry. Then, when newspaper editors voice opposition, lawmakers accuse the media of spoiling their plans.

And isn’t it ironic that Nealey asked to use the very vehicle he is criticizing?

If lawmakers and others — like the Association of Washington Cities — want to see reasonable changes made to the public records law, then they should invite journalists to the legislative table before cooking up a proposal we cannot support.

We probably are not that far apart. We understand the frustration that is caused by people who intentionally abuse the system.

Under state law, government agencies must make public records available to those who request them unless that record falls under a specific exemption.

Fulfilling such requests can take a lot of staff time, and we need to find a way to separate legitimate requests from those that aren’t. But we have to be careful not to go too far.

The case of Donna Zink and the tiny town of Mesa is an example Nealey used in his column to describe how a records request can hurt a community. He said that in 2007, Mesa was ordered to pay a $246,000 fine to Zink for failing to honor her 172 public records requests, which crippled the town’s budget of $340,000.

While this situation is extreme, the reality is the public records law did what it was designed to do. In favoring Zink, Superior Court Judge William Acey said at the time that Mesa’s actions were “egregious.” We may feel sympathy for the residents of Mesa, but city staff was found to be in the wrong, not Zink.

Nealey said he is willing to work with newspapers to improve the public records act. We are willing to work with lawmakers, as well. Next time, try including us from the beginning.

This story was originally published February 21, 2016 at 5:33 PM with the headline "Our Voice: Don’t blame journalists for protecting open records."