Citizens and the press would be guaranteed access to public records from the governor’s office, under an amendment to the Washington State Constitution that state Rep. Gerry Pollet is prime-sponsoring in the 2014 legislative session.
Pollet’s House Joint Resolution 4217 proposes a constitutional “Right-to-Know Amendment.” His legislation comes in response to last fall’s “sweeping Washington State Supreme Court decision granting the governor ‘executive privilege’ to refuse to disclose public records.” The state high court’s Oct. 17, 2013, decision created a sweeping executive privilege allowing a Washington governor to avoid disclosure of public records under the standards first claimed 40 years ago by former President Richard Nixon in the Watergate case.
“We must protect the fundamental right of the public to know what our state government is doing – and who is influencing our governor,” Pollet emphasized. “The amendment will prevent the claiming of executive privilege as a way to avoid disclosure of public records. This amendment is vital to protecting democracy and accountability here in our state of Washington.”
The Seattle lawmaker noted that his legislation “has very strong bipartisan support to protect the public’s right-to-know.”
Pollet praised Gov. Jay Inslee for Inslee’s:
- Stating that he would not claim executive privilege to deny public review of his public records while he is in office.
- Cooperating in the drafting of this proposed amendment.
(The state supreme court case involved former Gov. Christine Gregoire’s assertion of executive privilege.)
As a young law-school graduate three decades ago, Pollet’s first lawsuit successfully challenged then-Gov. John Spellman’s refusal to release to the public and news media his communications with Wall Street bondholders regarding the Washington Public Power Supply System (WPPSS) debacle. Spellman was advised by Wall Street operatives to have the state’s taxpayers, rather than Wall Street, pay the debt on billions of dollars of bonds issued illegally by WPPSS for canceled nuclear reactors. Pollet argued and won a court decision in 1984 ordering Spellman to disclose documents from Wall Street bond interests.
“Sunlight and disclosure, as is the case with most public records, proved to be the most powerful disinfectant – putting an end to the effort to have Washington’s taxpayers bail out Wall Street for the WPPSS debt and debacle,” Pollet pointed out.
Pointedly, he noted that under last year’s Washington State Supreme Court decision, “those Wall Street schemes to have Washington taxpayers bail out the WPPSS bond holders and issuers would never have become public.”
Pollet’s proposed amendment reflects strong statements from some of the supreme court justices concerning the case. He said their statements urge both that the court should have greatly limited the privilege in question, and that the decision opens the door to enormous abuse.
If it’s approved by the Legislature this session, HJR 4217 would go before the voters for consideration in this fall’s general election.
Pollet is also sponsoring House Bill 2121, which would require training for elected officials and government staff in obeying terms of the state’s Public Records Act.
“A major tenet of our system of open government is that elected officials and staff must be unfailing in our duty to conduct public business in the public eye,” he emphasized. “This past year, Attorney General Bob Ferguson has taken a lead in developing legislation creating a training program to make sure elected officials and public employees live by — and live up to — this essential public responsibility.”
Pollet is prime-sponsoring Ferguson’s request-legislation requiring training for state and local officials who are subject to the state’s open-government laws. Public-records and records-management staff would also be required to complete training, according to terms of the measure.
“Attorney General Ferguson has worked hard to develop legislation to provide training for public officials on their fundamental duty to conduct the public’s business in the open,” Pollet said. “His work demonstrates a strong commitment to open and transparent government. It provides simple training needed by public officials to ensure they understand their meetings must be open and their records for conducting public business are public records.
“This bill will also greatly reduce the liability of state and local governments from repeated findings that they did not train their staffs or elected officials in how to respond to a public-records request,” Pollet said. “As another part of this emphasis, I’m co-starting an ‘open-government caucus’ in the Legislature.”
A board member of the Washington Coalition for Open Government, Pollet has supervised a program training law students in the state’s open-government and environmental law.