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Sunday, April 03, 2005

Ind. Gov't. - IEDC fails early public records test

Brendan O'Shaughnessy of the Munster (NW Indiana) Times reports today that "IEDC fails early test of open records: New agency refused to release public records until public access counselor advised it to do so." Some quotes:

It took an informal inquiry opinion issued this week by the Indiana Public Access Counselor to get the state's new development agency to release public records about an embattled Gary nonprofit.

When lawmakers sped up the creation of the Indiana Economic Development Corp. at the request of Gov. Mitch Daniels in January, some Democrats expressed concerns the new public-private organization would not be as open to public scrutiny as the Commerce Department it replaced.

The corporation's early record -- incorrectly denying one of its first handful of requests -- indicates the doubters may have been justified * * *.

Nate Feltman, the corporation's vice president and general counsel, denied access to documents prepared by Crowe Chizek and Co. LLC, because the documents were preliminary and not a final report. Feltman said he wanted to protect possibly innocent people from alleged facts in a document that hadn't been reviewed. "As a lawyer, I want to not do something that may hurt someone," Feltman said after turning over part of the report. "I was trying to make sure we're not throwing facts out there that aren't accurate."

Public Access Counselor Karen Davis wrote that the denial failed to cite a specific exemption from disclosure because there is no exemption for preliminary or draft reports. The law allows an agency to withhold "deliberative" material that contains a private contractor's opinions, recommendations or advice for the IEDC board.

IEDC outside counsel Sue Beesley wrote in a letter, with the factual documents, that the agency "is exercising its discretion not to disclose those (deliberative) portions of the report."

I'll try to get a copy of the informal opinion of the public access counselor (who posts only "formal," as opposed to "informal," PAC advisory opinions) and Ms. Beesley's letter.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on April 3, 2005 04:59 PM
Posted to Indiana Government