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Editorial: Order of transparency

March 20, 2013 · Add Comment

From The Akron Beacon Journal

It is almost three years now since the governing boards of 10 charter schools in Akron and Cleveland filed suit in the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas trying to get White Hat Management to show them how it used operating funds for the schools. They notched another victory last week that should get them closer to the goal.

The boards had contracts that required them to turn over 96 percent of their state funding to White Hat to operate the schools. The boards, which are accountable to the state, argued reasonably that they have a responsibility to oversee the use of public funds flowing through the schools to the for-profit education management company owned by Akron businessman David Brennan.

White Hat refused to provide the requested records. It said the records were proprietary and confidential and that the law only required it to provide summary information. It argued also that public funds cease to be public once they pass through a private company to pay for services.

The trial court disagreed. In decisions in 2011 and in 2012, it sided with the schools and ordered White Hat to open its books, concluding that charter schools are public entities and the funds that a management company receives remain public funds. White Hat appealed the order. Last week, the 10th District Court of Appeals in Columbus in turn rejected the company’s claim of confidential and proprietary records. It affirmed the lower court’s order to release detailed financial information to the boards. With an option to appeal to the Ohio Supreme Court, White Hat could evade essential transparency for a long while yet.

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Colleges rarely publicize names of those banned from campus

March 19, 2013 · Add Comment

From The Columbus Dispatch

Many central Ohio colleges ban people from campus for being disruptive, disobeying rules or breaking laws, including burglary, domestic violence and even deer poaching.

Oberlin College in northeastern Ohio made national headlines last month when an activist group complained that the school’s no-trespass list is so secret that some people don’t know they’re on it or how they got there.

Nine local schools contacted by The Dispatch said people barred from their campuses shouldn’t be surprised; they’re notified in person or sent a certified or hand-delivered letter.

However, that doesn’t mean that the public can see all of the names on the lists.

Oberlin refused to share its list, but a nearby newspaper got the names of 323 people banned from the school from records at the Oberlin Police Department.

Of all of the schools contacted by The Dispatch, only Columbus State Community College provided the names of students who have been banned. Others said they were involved in disciplinary hearings that are protected by federal privacy laws.

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A public-records primer: How to make a request

March 15, 2013 · 1 Comment

By Randy Ludlow, The Columbus Dispatch

Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives. -- James Madison

In celebration of Sunshine Week, here’s a primer on making public-records requests in Ohio. It’s your government, your money, your records. Government merely is the custodian of the people’s records -- not the owner.

Know the law because an alarming number of government officials and employees don’t. Download a copy of the newly updated “Yellow Book”manual of Ohio Sunshine laws and familiarize yourself with the law. It can be complex.

It’s generally best to request routine records verbally. Written requests can be seen as adversarial and drag in the lawyers to delay and complicate your request. However, if your request is complex or could generate push-back, file a written request to bring clarity to the matter and document your request should trouble ensue.

Here’s a fill-in-the-blanks form letter you can download to request public records.

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Feds deny Beacon Journal request to look at Father Sam records

March 14, 2013 · Add Comment

From The Akron Beacon Journal

The U.S. Department of Justice has denied a public records request by the Akron Beacon Journal to review court and investigatory records regarding the arrest and conviction of the Rev. Samuel Ciccolini.

The release of the records “would result in an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy and would be in violation of the Privacy Act,” the department wrote in a letter dated March 8.

The letter goes on to say that court records are available to the public and another request could be filed to see those.

The newspaper had sought last year to examine the records through the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Cleveland, but was later instructed to file a Freedom of Information Act request through the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C.

The newspaper is appealing the March 8 denial.

Ciccolini, a well-known Catholic priest from Akron, is serving a six-month sentence in federal prison for cheating on his taxes and committing banking fraud in 2003. He also embezzled $1.28 million from the Interval Brotherhood Home Foundation, but paid it back when he was being investigated and was never charged with theft.

There remain many unanswered questions in the case. For example, authorities have never said why they started investigating the priest and why he was charged seven years after the crimes were committed.

Ciccolini, 70, best known in the community as “Father Sam,” was sentenced last fall.

He ran the Interval Brotherhood Home, a drug and alcohol treatment center in Coventry Township, for decades. He was a high-profile figure in Akron whose fame extended well outside the region.

His arrest in 2010 revealed that he had amassed a personal fortune of more than $5 million.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office declined comment.

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City of Columbus website earns ‘Sunny Award’

March 14, 2013 · 1 Comment

From The Columbus Dispatch

The folks over at Sunshine Review, a national nonprofit that promotes government transparency, aren't very impressed with Ohio.

After rummaging through more than 1,000 government websites in the U.S. and grading them on the online information made available to the public, the group awarded only six "Sunny Awards" in Ohio.

The city of Columbus grabbed one of the few Ohio awards, and the only one in central Ohio, for its website after picking up an "A-minus."

Nationwide, 247 government web sites earned a "Sunny Award" for making vital information available online about budgets, meetings, lobbying, financial audits, contracts, public records, taxes and other items.

Ohio's six awards paled to the number handed out to other states, such as Florida (25), Virginia (19), Illinois (19), California (12), Georgia (12), Kansas (11) and Oklahoma (10).

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State Auditor to gauge Sunshine Law compliance

March 13, 2013 · Add Comment

State Auditor Dave Yost said Monday he would conduct a test of sorts for Sunshine Law compliance throughout the state, with reviews of 20 counties and cities.

Mr. Yost said in a news release that the review, timed to coincide with Sunshine Week, will fulfill a promise he made last year to audit public records compliance during the 2012 audit cycle.

"These records belong to the people, and our governments know the right way to make them available," Mr. Yost said. "This week will be a good test to see how well we're doing."
The announcement comes as the auditor is locked in his own battle over public records with

Gov. John Kasich's administration and GOP legislative leaders, who want to quickly pass an amendment clarifying that certain records of the privatized JobsOhio development arm of the state aren't subject to Ohio's open records laws.

Mr. Yost said his local government examination is based on a 2011 bulletin he issued titled "Best Practices for Responding to Public Records Requests-Updated."

"The audit will analyze procedures to determine if each entity has controls to ensure compliance with the Ohio Public Records Act. Auditors from eight regions will each examine two or three cities or counties," his office reported.

"Among the standards to be examined are prompt response to requests for inspections and response within a reasonable time for copies. Auditors also will examine records retention schedules related to public records requests, and best practice procedures such as training, redaction practices and documentation of response."

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Attorney General releases 2013 edition of Ohio Sunshine Laws, touts open records mediation

March 13, 2013 · Add Comment

(The Attorney General on Monday) marked Sunshine Week with the release of the 2013 edition of "Ohio Sunshine Laws: An Open Government Resource Manual."

"Part of our mission to protect Ohio families includes protecting the public's right to know and to hold their government accountable," Mr. DeWine said in a statement. "The Ohio Attorney General's Office offers many resources to help Ohioans access open government, including our Sunshine Laws Manual, Sunshine Laws trainings, and our Public Records Mediation Program."

Mr. DeWine said the mediation program has been "a win-win for both local governments and those requesting records. Requesters get the information they seek and taxpayers avoid costly litigation."

Established less than a year ago, the program has received 59 requests for mediation and 23 of those were resolved prior to going through mediation, the AG's office reported. Of the seven mediations completed, six were successful. Of the requests for mediation that met program criteria and where the persons requesting the mediation chose to pursue their request to resolve the matter, the program has fully resolved 32 of the 38 disputes, or 84%.

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Ohio Association of Chiefs of Police says bill to block access to gun records clouds government transparency

March 11, 2013 · Add Comment

From The Cincinatti Enquirer

A bill proposed last week by a Southwest Ohio legislator would prevent journalists from looking at concealed carry gun permit applications – the latest in a nationwide surge of efforts to seal gun records from public view.

A spokesman of the Ohio Association of Chiefs of Police said the legislation clouds government transparency. But gun rights advocates say there’s no news value in knowing who has a permit and the information should be private.

In the four-county Southwest Ohio region, 9,639 new and renewed permits were issued in 2012, according to an annual report by the Ohio attorney general’s office. Statewide it was a record year with 78,810 concealed carry permits being issued. A license lasts five years and costs $55. More than 300,000 Ohioans have permits.

When the concealed carry law was enacted in April 2004, all the records were public. Three months later the Cleveland Plain Dealer published a list of all carriers and their ages in Northeast Ohio, which prompted the Legislature to tighten the law to its current status.

Under current law, only journalists, not the general public, are allowed to view concealed handgun information after filing a request with a county sheriff, who keeps the local permit information.

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Ohio Supreme Court upholds large open records fee

March 8, 2013 · Add Comment

From The Columbus Dispatch

The Ohio Supreme Court batted down a public-records request by a Portsmouth businessman seeking deed and other information from Scioto County Engineer Craig Opperman.

By a 6-1 decision yesterday, the court ruled that Opperman did not have to give Portsmouth real-estate appraiser Robert Gambill a copy of the county’s electronic database of deed information and aerial photos of all Scioto County property. The court said that by offering Gambill a copy provided that he pay a $2,000 fee, the engineer had met requirements in the Ohio Public Records Act.

The court agreed with Opperman’s explanation that the database is “inextricably intertwined” with a copyright-protected software program and could not be extracted without considerable time and expense by the county. There is no evidence, the court majority said, that officials did that purposely to avoid having to provide public records.

Justice Paul E. Pfeifer, in a strong dissenting opinion, disagreed. He accused Opperman of intentionally mixing public records with the software, forcing “citizens seeking public records to pay an exorbitant price to untie the knot. A person seeking public records should expect to pay the price for copying the records, but not the price for a public entity’s mistake in purchasing inefficient software.”

The majority decision in the case “encourages public entities desiring secrecy to hide public records within a software lockbox and require individual citizens to provide the golden key to unlock it,” Pfeifer said.

Justices also rejected Gambill’s contention that the county’s charge of $2 per 11-by-17-inch copy of a tax map and photograph is excessive, and turned down his request for attorney fees.

The full decision is available at http://tinyurl.com/cgxdwq4.

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Ohio senators want to prevent journalists from viewing gun-permit records

March 7, 2013 · 1 Comment

From The Dayton Daily News

A law proposed in the Ohio Senate this week would make records of people licensed to carry concealed firearms in Ohio completely off-limits to journalists.

Bill sponsor Ohio Sen. Joe Uecker and Dayton-area Sen. Bill Beagle, R-Tipp City, one of the bill’s co-sponsors, said they were inspired by a New York newspaper’s recent decision to publish the names and addresses of gun-permit holders in three counties there.

“I don’t think it was proper,” Beagle said. “If the only way to prevent that is through legislation, then that’s legislation I’m interested in supporting.”

The proposed law would remove the exemption that allows journalists to to view, but not take notes or copy, records of gun permit holders, kept by county sheriffs’ offices.

As the law stands, publishing a list of carrying a concealed weapon (CCW) permit holders in Ohio would be impossible, said Dennis Hetzel, executive director of the Ohio Newspaper Association.

Even so, Beagle questioned why the information is accessible at all.

“I’m not sure there’s any public policy interest in whether or not an individual has a concealed carry license,” he said.

Uecker also cited a June 2011 Hamilton JournalNews story about elected officials in Butler County who held concealed-carry permits. Information was gathered for that story under the existing law.

“People don’t want the public to know who has a concealed-carry license,” Uecker said. “And of course, there is the philosophical notion that some people (question) why it is a public record for something that we believe is a constitutional right in the first place.”

Hetzel said preventing journalists from viewing CCW records would decrease government transparency.

“I wish the pro-gun forces would be as respectful of the First Amendment as they are of the second, and they should be fearful of excessive government secrecy,” Hetzel said.

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See Also

Lawmakers Move Swiftly to Block Release of Gun Permit Records (From Stateline, the Daily News Service of the PEW Charitable Trusts)

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UC protesters’ displays cause controversy

March 7, 2013 · Add Comment

From The Cincinnati Enquirer

University of Cincinnati student groups are displaying images of female genitalia on the UC main campus today and Friday in protest of previous anti-abortion demonstrations on the campus.

The display, titled “Re-envisioning the Female Body,” includes 12 4-by-6-foot images of some female students’ genitals. It is being sponsored by the UC Feminist and LGBTQ student groups. The images are displayed on McMicken Commons, close to but not visible from Clifton Avenue from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Quotes from the models concerning women’s issues – specifically in the areas of health care and abortion – accompany the posters.

Many of the models said this expression is empowering for them. Sarah Coressel, one of the student models for the display, said she was nervous prior to the start of the event, but is proud to be a part of it now.

“I’ve never really been comfortable with myself, and this is kind of me taking my body into my own hands and saying, ‘This is what I can do and I can do it if I want to,’” Coressel said.

The groups organizing the protest said on a Facebook page that the protest is in response to large images of aborted fetuses shown on campus in recent years.

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Kasich, Yost in showdown over JobsOhio

March 7, 2013 · Add Comment

From The Columbus Dispatch

State Auditor Dave Yost issued a subpoena for the financial records of JobsOhio yesterday after Gov. John Kasich’s privatized economic-development agency failed to turn them over.

“They are not cooperating with our attempts to audit them,” Yost told The Dispatch, asserting his legal authority to review the finances of the private entity that spearheads Kasich’s efforts to attract jobs to the state.

The subpoena gives JobsOhio until Wednesday to turn over all financial records through the fiscal year ending June 30, 2012.

The General Assembly created JobsOhio early in 2011 through the enactment of House Bill 1 shortly after Kasich became governor.

News of the subpoena came amid new questions about just how much taxpayer money has been poured into JobsOhio and how it got there apparently without state lawmakers knowing about it.

Yost said he issued the subpoena after several months of negotiations between his office and Jobs-Ohio chief financial officer Kevin Giangola, and only after “it became clear over the last three days or so that we weren’t going to hear back from JobsOhio.”

Yost added, “I was told that the CFO said it wasn’t going to be his decision.”

The auditor was unsure if the decision not to cooperate was made by the governor’s office, but he said he had heard “third-hand through the legislative process” that the Kasich administration might attempt to insert an amendment into the state transportation budget bill to clarify his authority to audit JobsOhio.

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Additional Coverage

JobsOhio used millions in extra public funds (The Columbus Dispatch)
Kasich on JobsOhio's financial records: 'It's complicated' (The Columbus Dispatch)
Gov. John Kasich calls dispute with Auditor Dave Yost over JobsOhio a misunderstanding (The Plain Dealer)

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Open-meetings laws, proposed Powell city amendment may be at odds

March 5, 2013 · Add Comment

From This Week News

Powell city leaders are standing by a proposal to expand City Council's right to meet privately, despite assertions that the proposition is on shaky legal ground.

Representatives of the Ohio Newspaper Association say a proposed charter amendment, which would expand the rights of Powell city officials to discuss matters in private executive sessions, could open the door to abuse.

"This might be the worst open-meetings language I have ever seen," said Dennis Hetzel, executive director of the Ohio Newspaper Association, a state trade group that represents Ohio newspapers. "It clearly violates the spirit of Ohio's open-meetings law, which only allows closed meetings under very specific circumstances.

"This is an open-ended invitation to deliberate about anything in secret any time two-thirds of the council wants to do it," Hetzel said. "This language essentially makes council immune from scrutiny whenever it wants to be immune from it. That is the opposite of what the open-meetings law was designed to do and the opposite of the intent of the charter language."

The amendment is one of seven Powell charter amendments set to be placed on the ballot in May or November; a final ballot date has not been chosen. All seven amendments were approved for the ballot at a Feb. 5 council meeting.

The amendment governing executive-session rules would make way for council to identify additional grounds on which discussions can remain confidential. Mayor Richard Cline said it would give council more flexibility to negotiate economic-incentive deals with companies interested in moving to Powell, among other potential uses.

If it's approved by voters, council could enter executive session to discuss an item if five out of seven council members agree it's necessary.

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Repository editorial: Ruling strikes blow against secrecy

March 4, 2013 · Add Comment

Editorial from The Canton Repository

The issue: Ohio’s open-meeting laws
Our view: ‘Attorney-client privilege’ doesn’t give school board carte blanche

Thanks to a Franklin County court magistrate’s decision this week, public boards in Ohio may be less tempted to try to dodge the state’s open meetings law.

This is good news for all of us who want to know how local school boards, city councils and other public bodies do business on our behalf.

Here’s the backstory:

Columbus City Schools is in hot water with the state for changing enrollment figures to make its students’ achievement test scores look better on the district’s report card. Under state law, the board can meet privately with its attorney if it faces “pending or imminent court action.” But the Col-umbus district doesn’t face a lawsuit, so it can’t use that exemption to the open meetings law.

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Shadows lengthen on access to public records

March 1, 2013 · Add Comment

By Dennis Hetzel, Executive Director

Every year, Sunshine Week underscores the importance of open government across the nation. It is a perfect moment to share concerns in Ohio about ever-growing exceptions to an open records law that should ensure you have access to information about what your government officials do and how well they do it.

Whether you’re a Tea Party activist, just an everyday citizen or an unrepentant liberal, we think you should be able to agree on this subject. The exception train needs to slow down.

Ohio’s statute once was considered a model open records law nationally. Most public officials are well-intentioned, and it’s often the case that each idea for a new exception has a justification that appears reasonable in isolation. It is the cumulative effect that alarms us.

We now have 29 categories of records that are secret under Ohio law. They’ve run out of single letters, so the latest exception was lettered “cc.” I have seen proposals already in the new legislative session involving fees for county recorder records, new restrictions on school-related records and more. Certain categories require repairs, too. For example, the lack of information on how taxpayer money is being spent at many Ohio charter schools should be fixed.

Government is a custodian of public records, not the owner. Restrictions on access should leap a high bar; there should be no reasonable doubt that secrecy is the better option.

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Magistrate raps Columbus school board on open meetings

February 28, 2013 · 1 Comment

From The Columbus Dispatch

Simply having an attorney in the room does not allow the Columbus Board of Education to close meetings about its ongoing student-data scandal, a Franklin County magistrate ruled yesterday.

Franklin County Common Pleas Magistrate Tim McCarthy issued a preliminary injunction that orders the school board to stop such meetings.

In doing so, McCarthy rejected a legal theory developed by Robert “Buzz” Trafford, a Columbus attorney the board hired to advise it on the scandal. Trafford, managing partner with Porter Wright, had argued that the age-old common-law edict of attorney-client privilege — or the right to meet privately with an attorney — required the board to close meetings to speak with him.

The board used the tactic to close seven meetings last year, over objections from The Dispatch, which charged that the board was violating the Ohio Open Meetings Act. The newspaper sued, resulting in the decision released yesterday.

“It’s been The Dispatch’s position that the school board had adopted a position inconsistent with the Ohio case law, including two Ohio Court of Appeals decisions, and today the magistrate agrees,” said Marion H. Little Jr., attorney for The Dispatchand a partner with Zeiger, Tigges & Little, of Columbus .The court determined that “a meeting that violates this order would cause irreparable harm and prejudice to” the newspaper.

McCarthy cited one of the same appeals-court cases that the newspaper’s reporters had pointed out to Trafford in concluding that the board can’t rely on attorney-client privilege as a reason to have private meetings on the data scandal.

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Otterbein journalists, police in public records fight

February 28, 2013 · 1 Comment

From This Week News

Otterbein University student journalists, led by adviser and communications professor Hillary Warren, are preparing to do battle with the university officials over university police records.

Since last summer, Warren and her students have been engaged in a back and forth with university officials on whether Otterbein University Police fall under Ohio public records laws and must provide public police records.

"People in the community have a right to know how the police are behaving," Warren said. "People have a right to know if their community is safe.

"People have a right to know if someone was arrested are charged if it was done right. I don't know of another law-enforcement body in this country that's allowed to operate in secrecy."

The debate began when Otterbein's security force underwent Ohio Peace Officer training in 2011 and converted to an official police force that July.

Initially, Otterbein police officials said they believed the university police force was subject to Ohio public records law, said Otterbein Police Chief Larry Banaszak.

But at a public records training course held by the Ohio Attorney General's office last fall, an official from the Attorney General's office advised that as a private university, Otterbein did not have to provide public reports, Banaszak said.

University officials do not want to release student-related crime information if they don't have to, Banaszak said, because they want to protect the privacy of students who are victims of or who perpetrate minor campus crimes.

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State Rep. Lou Terhar: Restrict access to state job applicants

February 27, 2013 · Add Comment

From The Cincinnati Enquirer

A Southwest Ohio lawmaker is circulating a proposal to make it harder to find out about applicants for state jobs.

State Rep. Lou Terhar, R-Green Township, told The Enquirer the legislation is needed to “attract the best and brightest” to work for the state. The legislation would have no impact, he said, on the hiring practices of local government or school districts.

Terhar said the state’s public records law “is necessary to ensure public transparency,” but he wants to tweek it a bit.

Dennis Hetzel, executive director of the Ohio Newspaper Association, told The Enquirer the bill is just an example of “adding another exception to what used to be a model open records law. All the exceptions have gotten out of control. This never ends.”

Terhar said talented individuals who might be interested in working for Ohio don’t want to put their current jobs on the line, which could happen if an employer finds that person applied for another job. The lawmaker said private industry doesn’t release job applicant names and to a limited extent the state should follow that practice.

Terhar said his bill would require the name, resume and other information of a job candidate to be released should the person be offered and accept an interview for the position, but kept private until that point.

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Secrecy is trumping public interest in gun control coverage

February 26, 2013 · Add Comment

From Online Journalism Review

Our impoverished national conversation on guns appears to have a new casualty: public information.

The latest victim is the Bangor Daily News in Bangor, Me., whose request for the names of concealed gun permit holders – a public record in Maine – unleashed a firestorm. The paper withdrew its request.

The reason this sounds familiar, of course, is because of the controversy last December, when a White Plains, N.Y., newspaper (the Journal News) published the names and addresses of handgun permit holders. That newspaper, too, ended up succumbing to the outrage directed against it.

During the course of the latter controversy, the newspaper’s publisher, Janet Hasson, had this to say: “New York residents have the right to own guns with a permit and they also have a right to access public information.” Makes good sense to me. But not to the many public officials who, in each of these cases,rushed to make the information private.

Citizens who are reassured by this stampede to withhold information should consider: Secrecy is almost always the first instinct of politicians. That previous lawmakers have made a determination that the name and address of any handgun permit holder in New York State “shall be a public record” is evidence of an uncommonly enlightened understanding that certain kinds of information should be in the public domain. Why today’s readiness to deny that it is in the public interestfor such information to be available? We seem to be in one of those recurring periods in our society when concerns about privacy regularly trump an allegiance to informed self-governance. Fear for loss of privacy is eminently reasonable. But we can’t afford to forget the cost of ignorance.

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Dear Mark Emmert: Why won’t NCAA meet with sports editors, news organizations?

February 21, 2013 · Add Comment

From The Sherman Report

As if Mark Emmert and the NCAA didn’t have enough bad PR problems on its plate, here’s another one: Now the president and the association appear to be ducking the nation’s sports editors.

The Associated Press Sports Editors, joined by other news organizations, wrote a letter last week to Emmert expressing profound frustration over recent NCAA decisions regarding the media. Specifically, they cite the NCAA moving 30 percent of its media seating for the Final Four “away from the court and into locations which make our
coverage of these games more difficult and ultimately less informative to the public.”

There also are issues regarding social media, credentials and access for coverage of football and basketball at various schools and conferences.

The letter says that the APSE and other news organizations have been trying to meet with NCAA officials since last October. Much to their frustration, a meeting has yet to take place.

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Editorial: Stop investigating Franklin’s school chief

February 20, 2013 · Add Comment

From The Cincinnati Enquirer

Speaking freely is a near-sacred American right, enshrined in the First Amendment to the Constitution. That’s why the decision of the Warren County prosecutor to go after a school superintendent for speaking out is disturbing.

Yes, Arnol Elam, superintendent of Franklin schools, appeared to have crossed a line in a letter he sent home with students that blasted Gov. John Kasich’s new education budget. Elam spared no words in criticizing Kasich’s plan and called on taxpayers to “join me in an active campaign to ensure that Gov. Kasich and any legislator who supports him are not re-elected ...”

That caused county prosecutor David Fornshell to open an investigation into whether Elam used public funds for a political purpose.

Does this really warrant using the substantial resources and power of the Warren County prosecutor’s office?

A longtime school superintendent voiced his frustration about the state of education in Ohio today and its impact on his school district. He should have known better than to call for the defeat of Kasich in his letter, as school leaders are usually hyper-aware about staying apolitical in their communications.

But it’s actually refreshing to hear a superintendent speak his mind and give a much-needed counterpoint to the spin from the governor’s office.

Immediately following the announcement of his plan, Kasich’s office distributed endorsements from superintendents and educators around the state. More than a dozen Ohio superintendents are featured on Kasich’s website praising the education proposals. They include Cincinnati’s Mary Ronan and Loveland’s John Marschausen.

Is that political?

Using the power of the prosecutor to investigate this dissenter is heavy-handed. If indeed Elam used public resources to produce and distribute his letter, then he can reimburse the state treasury.

But there are bigger issues here. The investigation is drowning out what Elam has to say, which is that the governor’s plan does nothing for his high-poverty district. He’s not the only superintendent to say this, but he may be the bluntest.

It also smacks of targeting an outspoken dissenter for prosecution. It’s relevant that Kasich is a Republican governor, that Fornshell chaired the Warren County Republican Party during Kasich’s election campaign and that Warren County is one of the most Republican counties in the state.

Fornshell’s investigation could chill further criticism of the governor’s proposals. His education plan would affect all 614 public school districts in the state.

It deserves a full, open, vigorous airing. That alone is reason to drop the investigation.

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Cincinnati Enquirer investigation: Thousands of Butler County crimes sealed from view

February 19, 2013 · Add Comment

From The Cincinnati Enquirer

A few thousand people – many of them students at Miami University – have committed crimes in Butler County in the past 14 years that are kept secret. Their conviction records have been sealed.

It’s a routine practice in the Butler County courtroom of Judge Rob Lyons. His use of the practice came to light after he granted secrecy to a former Miami student who admitted to creating a flier about how to get away with rape.

Lyons, a part-time judge whose private law practice helps clients seal their criminal records, admitted in a sworn deposition that he’s been sealing cases improperly for the 14 years he’s been on the bench. Lyons has sealed 2,945 cases – more than a third of the new misdemeanor cases filed – in the past five years, an Enquirer analysis shows, using data from area court officials and the Ohio Supreme Court.

“This is a college town,” Lyons said in the recent deposition. Lyons, a Miami University graduate, testified that he didn’t want convictions to hurt students’ chances to graduate or get a job after college.

It is impossible to tell exactly what the charges were in the sealed cases, but they are thought to be misdemeanors, which could include crimes ranging from underage possession of alcohol or disorderly conduct to minor theft or domestic violence. It also is impossible to know who has been granted secrecy and whether those people were originally charged with more serious crimes.

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Court reversal not in Blade’s favor

February 15, 2013 · Add Comment

From The Toledo Blade

After 10 Toledo police officers and two civilians sued The Blade over a 1990 investigative series that probed into police misconduct, the lawsuit was dismissed on the grounds that the newspaper accurately reported the contents of public records.

The Blade later sought, and won, a further court ruling saying it was entitled to attorney fees for defending itself after that dismissal was appealed. Now, the 6th District Court of Appeals has reversed that decision, saying The Blade should pick up its $163,301 legal tab.

In a 21-page ruling filed recently, the appeals court ruled that Napoleon attorney George C. Rogers, who represented the police officers in the case, did not act “frivolously” and therefore attorney fees could not be awarded in the case.

“We’re unhappy with the decision,” said David Waterman, outside counsel to Block Communications, Inc., the parent company of The Blade. “We disagree with the decision, and we are still reviewing it and discussing it with representatives of The Blade.”

Mr. Waterman said attorneys are evaluating whether to appeal the decision to the Supreme Court of Ohio or file a motion for reconsideration with the 6th District Court of Appeals.

The appeals court leaned heavily on a 1999 case called Mueller v. City of Vandalia in determining Lucas County Common Pleas Judge Stacy Cook had erred in awarding attorney fees to The Blade for appeals filed by Mr. Rogers in the appeals court, the Supreme Court of Ohio, and the U.S. Supreme Court.

Paul Bonfiglio, the attorney who represented The Blade in the appeal, said he had not reviewed the decision thoroughly and declined to comment on what he deemed “pending litigation.”

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Town sued for banning ‘frack’ talk at meetings

February 15, 2013 · Add Comment

From The Akron Beacon Journal

Two environmental groups filed a federal lawsuit on Tuesday against an upstate New York town, claiming it violated residents’ right to free speech by banning discussion of natural gas drilling at town board meetings.

The town board in Sanford, about 100 miles southwest of Albany in Broome County, passed a resolution in September saying there already had been hours of public comment for and against gas drilling and that no further discussion would be allowed during board meetings, although residents could still submit comments in writing.

“If people are silenced by their own elected representatives, how can they trust them to act in their best interests?” said Natural Resources Defense Council attorney Kate Sinding as her group announced the U.S. District Court lawsuit. NRDC and Catskill Citizens for Safe Energy filed the lawsuit on behalf of town residents who are members of their groups.

Herbert Kline, a Binghamton attorney who represents Sanford, said Tuesday that the resolution was supported by an opinion from the state Committee on Open Government. He said he hadn’t seen the lawsuit yet.

“People who were against fracking had, in the minds of the town board, monopolized discussion in the public participation portion of prior meetings to the extent that very little other business could be accomplished,” Kline said in explaining what led to the resolution.

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From ONA Convention: First Amendment lawyer says rulings eroding law on open records

February 15, 2013 · Add Comment

If the current state of public records law were a student, Ohio should be worried that the once-star pupil is now in danger of failing, a First Amendment lawyer said Thursday.

“Ohio public record law is predicated on the inarguable proposition that public records are the public’s records, and that the incidental custodians — whether it be a civil servant or an elected official — are truly custodians and they operate as trustees for all of us in the custody and handling of those records,” Toledo attorney Fritz Byers, The Blade’s counsel in open government cases, said at the convention of the Ohio Newspaper Association.

Ohio is generally considered to have one of the strongest public records or “sunshine” laws in the nation, but Mr. Byers expressed concern that some recent court rulings, including some by the Ohio Supreme Court, have begun whittling away at public access to its own records.

Attorney General Mike DeWine described the current state of open records law to be “inconsistent,” particularly in terms of its implementation at the local government level, where officials sometimes don’t understand the law or don’t want to understand it.

“I think the state of the law is good,” he said. “I think the public policy of the state is by and large good. I think the Supreme Court decisions have been very clear about which way we should go. The devil’s always in the implementation. I think the challenge is on a case-by-case [basis]. Part of it is education.”

The Ohio Supreme Court has seemingly come down on both sides of the issue in the eyes of journalists. In 2006, it recognized for the first time a governor’s ability to assert executive privilege in shielding some records from public view.

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The curious case of Kasich’s slow-to-emerge K-12 numbers

February 8, 2013 · Add Comment

From The Columbus Dispatch

Here’s what reporters have been demanding, and educators awaiting, for a week – the school district funding numbers underlying Gov. John Kasich’s proposed K-12 budget.

The route to their release, dating to a week ago today when Kasich pitched his plans to school superintendents, was tortuous.

Reporters seeking the district funding numbers first were told they were the personal notes of a Kasich education adviser and were not a public record since they had not been shared with anyone else.

Then, Kasich’s office advised that yes, the figures had been shared with the Office of Budget and Management, but they were not forthcoming.

Earlier this week, reporters were told there were problems with the numbers and they still were being polished. (We’re still searching for the exemption in law that allows records to be withheld because they may contain an error.) The district funding numbers finally were released yesterday afternoon.

Ohio’s public records law requires records to be made immediately available for in-person inspection on demand. It didn’t happen in this case. (And, Kasich's office continues to withhold its original set of district funding numbers.)

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Reporters Committee asks DOJ to overturn new Marshals Service policy blocking release of federal mug shots

February 6, 2013 · Add Comment

From the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press

The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, joined by 37 media organizations, has written to U.S. Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr., asking that a recently enacted Marshals Service policy to block the release of federal criminal booking photographs be rescinded.

“The new policy stifles the public’s lawful access to booking photographs under FOIA without legal justification,” according to the Reporters Committee letter.

The Reporters Committee letter was prompted by a Dec. 12 Marshals Service memo stating that it would no longer comply with Freedom of Information Act requests for booking photographs as required under appellate court precedent in the U.S. Court of Appeals in Cincinnati (Sixth Circuit).

Under the 1996 ruling in Detroit Free Press v. Department of Justice, federal booking photographs must be released under FOIA when a named, indicted criminal suspect has appeared in open court and the court proceedings are ongoing. The Sixth Circuit ruling found that under such circumstances an individual has no privacy right in such records. By refusing to follow the appellate court precedent, the Marshals Service has essentially shut off access to federal mug shots under FOIA.

The Marshals Service had previously limited release of booking photographs to FOIA requests originating from within the Sixth Circuit and only allowed their release to non-Sixth Circuit requesters if the images had already been made public under FOIA. The December memo states that the Marshals Service will no longer comply with its FOIA obligations under the Detroit Free Press decision particularly in light of two subsequent U.S. appellate courts decisions finding that subjects may have some level of privacy under FOIA in their booking photograph images.

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Public Notice Resource Center urges affirmation of newspapers for public notice; criticizes Tennessee open meetings notice requirements

February 5, 2013 · Add Comment

From a press release by the Public Notice Resource Center

Tennessee newspapers are the most viable medium for public notices in the state, but the citizens cannot be fully informed if the notice requirements for public meetings do not mandate sufficient information to be meaningful, the Public Notice Resource Center (PNRC) told the Tennessee Court of Appeals for the Middle District of Tennessee in February.

PNRC filed an amicus brief in Fisher v. Rutherford County Planning Commission, a review of an appeal by a citizens group, who protested the building of an Islamic Center in a rural area near Murfreesboro, TN. The notice of the Planning Commission’s meeting to review the center’s proposed site plan was published in the Murfreesboro Post, but did not provide an agenda, nor give any indication that the Commission planned to act on the center’s proposal.

A trial judge found that the public notice was insufficient, but his focus was on the use of the newspaper. In a lengthy opinion, the Chancery Court said the county should have used its own website and its public television channel to announce the meeting.

PNRC took no position on the challenge to the mosque or on the choice of newspapers used. Rather, it directed the court’s attention to the propriety of using the newspaper and the importance of mandating a notice with meaningful information. It provided the court with a list of other states’ statutes involving public notice of land use matters.

“The use of local newspapers is widely practiced in other states where the public interest is served by inviting citizen participation in land use policies,” the brief stated. It criticized the Chancery Court’s finding that when controversial matters come before a public body, the newspaper as a medium is inadequate. The problem was in the notice itself, PNRC said.

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Democrats threaten to sue state board over Terhar texts

January 30, 2013 · Add Comment

From The Cincinnati Enquirer

Ohio Democrats are giving the state board of education until 5 p.m. Thursday to turn over records of Debe Terhar's text messages or the party will sue to get them.

Democrats announced their intentions Monday. It’s the latest development in the controversy over Terhar's posting of information linking President Barack Obama's gun control proposals to Adolf Hitler last week. Terhar eventually took down the Facebook post and then her entire page. Though she apologized to the state board, she did not issue a public apology, which Democrats demanded.

Also Monday, Terhar rejected a request by six members of the 19-member board, including Democrats and Republicans, for a special meeting to discuss the Facebook issue.

In an email obtained by The Enquirer, Terhar told board members she would address the issue at the board's regularly scheduled meeting on Feb. 11. The earliest a special meeting of the board could be held would be Feb. 7 because a public notice of any special meeting must be posted 10 days in advance of the meeting.

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New online tool reports teacher, school employees’ salaries

January 29, 2013 · 1 Comment

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A court case against those skeezy mugshot websites raises First Amendment issues

January 28, 2013 · 1 Comment

From Nieman Journalism Lab

Before the holidays, Wired reported the filing of a putative class action in Ohio against a group of privately owned websites that allegedly collect and publish mugshot photos, and then charge those whose photos appear exorbitant amounts to have the photos removed. The lawsuit is premised on the right of publicity — that is, a person’s right to control the commercial exploitation of their name or likeness.

I have little sympathy for the so-called “mugshot racket,” but using the right of publicity as a method of attack has some issues. Ordinarily, the right of publicity is invoked to prevent the exploitation of an individual’s persona without permission through use of a name or photograph for promotional purposes. For example, the right prevents the unauthorized use of a celebrity’s likeness in advertising to falsely suggest the endorsement of a product. In that sense, the right of publicity reflects the positive value that can accrue to an individual’s identity through the individual’s efforts, and gives the individual the ability to control how that value is used.

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Defense and media attorneys oppose closing courtroom in Steubenville rape case

January 25, 2013 · Add Comment

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ONA, OCOG help improve guidelines for school seclusion rooms

January 25, 2013 · Add Comment

By Dennis Hetzel, Executive Director

The Columbus Dispatch has done some exceptional reporting on the use of seclusion rooms to discipline students or handle other student situations in Ohio schools and the lack of accountability or guidelines.

In response, the state Board of Education adopted first-ever rules for how schools should make use of these rooms and report on their use. Unfortunately, as drafted, the rules could lead many school superintendents to conclude that all records would be confidential. This is particularly ironic because it was the use of records that helped The Dispatch disclose questionable practices.

After the Dispatch raised the issue in stories and editorials, I wrote a letter on behalf of both ONA and the Ohio Coalition for Open Government urging the Ohio Dept. of Education and the state board to adopt rules that make it clear that these records should be open. We pointed out that redaction, not complete closure, is the answer when redaction will prevent identification of students as prohibited by federal FERPA guidelines.

FERPA (the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act) is turning out to the be the new HIPAA as an excuse for public officials to block access to information, but that’s a larger topic for another day.

As a result of our efforts, the state board removed the word “confidential” from the opening sentence of the new guidelines. That change, combined with the attention the access issue has received, may help avoid denials or expensive court battles. The ODE did not respond to our suggestion that districts create a log of seclusion room activity that would be a public record.

Click here to read The Dispatch coverage of the state board’s action.
Click here to read the full text of the ONA/OCOG letter to the education department.

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OCOG to receive proceeds of ‘essential’ open records book

January 25, 2013 · Add Comment

By Dennis Hetzel, Executive Director

Dave Marburger and Karl Idsvoog wrote a book that should be in every Ohio newsroom. (At least that’s my opinion as your executive director and a former editor.) “Access with Attitude: An Advocate’s Guide to Freedom of Information in Ohio” is an essential user’s guide to navigating the complexities and occasional weirdness of Ohio’s open records laws.

Now, Buckeye State journalists have another reason to purchase this book, which is available at a discount price to ONA members. Marburger and Idsvoog are donating their proceeds from this book to the Ohio Coalition for Open Government.

Marburger, an attorney with BakerHostetler in Cleveland, is a member of the OCOG committee and has represented many ONA members in Sunshine Law cases. Idsvoog is a journalism professor at Kent State and an award-winning investigative reporter.

The retail price for the book is $29.95, but Ohio University Press is offering ONA members a 30 percent discount on orders between one to four copies. To get the discount, use discount code M1121 when ordering on the Ohio University Press website, www.ohioswallow.com.

For a 40 percent discount on orders of five or more books, contact Ohio University Press’s business manager, Kristi Goldsberry, at (740) 593-1156 or goldsbek@ohio.edu.

We also will have copies of the book available for sale at the annual convention, Feb. 13-14 at the Hilton Columbus at Polaris.

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