Alabama governor: Media requests for records must go through attorney

By The Associated Press

09.28.01

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MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Gov. Don Siegelman's administration has instituted screening policies for providing reporters with public records, requiring that requests go through his legal adviser.

The change was made in the wake of disclosures about unbid contracts going to friends of the administration, but Siegelman said it was to streamline the process.

"What we're trying to do is get things to people faster," he said.

Jim Buckalew, Siegelman's chief of staff, sent a memo to state department heads on Sept. 13 that said: "I ask that you forward to Ted Hosp, the governor's legal adviser, all requests for public records that your agency receives from the media. Mr. Hosp will work with members of the media to ensure that any and all public records relevant to a specific request are provided in a timely manner."

Previously, reporters contacted an agency's director or public information officer to get public records.

Buckalew said Sept. 26 the governor approved the letter, which went to state agencies directly under the governor's control and those controlled by boards, such as the state Department of Education.

Buckalew said he would notify department heads that he meant the letter to apply only to requests for large numbers of records. He also said his letter was meant to help reporters by providing information quickly and thoroughly, but he acknowledged that the administration said nothing to reporters about the letter for nearly two weeks.

Republicans expected to run against Siegelman for governor all criticized the new procedure, and a Mobile lawyer who has run for office as a Republican, Jim Zeigler, went to Montgomery to file a lawsuit challenging the action as a violation of Alabama's open-records act.

"It really does look like they have something to hide, so let's put up some kind of mechanism that will slow the process," said Ed Mullins, chairman of the Alabama Center for Open Government, a group that lobbies for public access to government.

Alabama's Open Records Act says: "Every citizen has a right to inspect and take a copy of any public writing of this state, except as otherwise expressly provided by statute."

The disclosure of the Siegelman administration's screening requirements came one day after Siegelman signed two bills that were supposed to make government more open. They required a competitive process for awarding some state contracts for professional services and required people getting some state contracts and grants to disclose family ties in state government.

Hosp said he sees nothing incongruous between the legislation and the administration's open-records policy. He said all he plans to do is review which documents in a file are covered by the state's open-records law.

The governor's press secretary, Carrie Kurlander, said the policy formalizes what she has been doing informally. She said when she has received requests for documents under Alabama's public-records law, she has normally contacted the legal adviser.

Attorney General Bill Pryor told The Mobile Register that he didn't see any problem with sending record requests through Hosp. "I don't know of any law it violates," he said.

Lucy Daglish, executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, disagreed. Her group, based in Arlington, Va., has studied public-records laws in every state.

"I don't think Alabama law allows the governor's office to funnel all public-records requests through them," Daglish said.

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Alabama governor: Public records to be released promptly on request
'This change in policy is also an attempt to comply with the spirit, as well as the letter,' of open-records laws, states memo to Cabinet members.  02.10.03