News organizations sue Kansas governor-elect over open meetings

By The Associated Press

12.05.02

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TOPEKA, Kan. — News organizations have filed an open-meetings lawsuit against Gov.-elect Kathleen Sebelius, but she says her transition is unusually accessible to the public.

The Associated Press, the Kansas Press Association, the Kansas Association of Broadcasters and 11 newspapers filed their lawsuit yesterday in Shawnee County District Court. They seek to open meetings of teams Sebelius appointed to review state government.

"All Kansans have a right to know about their government," said Paul Stevens, AP bureau chief for Kansas and Missouri. "Public officials must not hide the public's business behind a veil of secrecy."

Sebelius, a Democrat, told the AP she was trying to balance the need for openness with the need for frank discussions about government.

"I don't think there is a lot of doubt that having every comment recorded and played back in a media forum can have a chilling effect on people's willingness to be very blunt and candid," Sebelius said.

Sebelius also said her transition had been more open than any other. She has appointed five teams to review state agencies and plans to name a sixth to examine education.

She also has established a toll-free telephone line to take suggestions and is receiving letters and e-mails from Kansans. Her transition office said it had received nearly 1,500 ideas.

The lawsuit named Sebelius and her transition office as defendants and asked Judge Eric Rosen to order the review teams to comply with the Kansas Open Meetings Act.

Rosen scheduled a hearing for 9 a.m. Dec. 12. Sebelius is being represented by Assistant Attorney General Steve Phillips.

Rick Thames, editor of The Wichita Eagle, said the review teams would recommend where to cut government spending.

"It's important work," said Thames, who is also the Kansas Press Association legislative liaison. "It ought to be done in full public view. Otherwise, people are going to have a lot of questions later about why these task forces targeted some areas for cuts while passing over others."

Other newspapers also involved in the lawsuit are The Topeka Capital-Journal, The Hutchinson News, The Garden City Telegram, The Hays Daily News, The Chanute Tribune, The (Pittsburg) Morning Sun, Lawrence Journal-World, The Ottawa Herald, The Salina Journal and Parsons Sun.

The filing came a day after Sen. David Adkins, R-Leawood, resigned as leader of a team studying public-safety agencies. Adkins said he wanted his team's meetings to be open.

Sebelius' Budget Efficiency Savings Teams are the result of her campaign promise to conduct a top-to-bottom review of state government to look for efficiencies.

In the lawsuit, the news organizations argued that the teams' meetings should fall under the Open Meetings Act, even before Sebelius becomes governor. The law requires boards, commissions and gubernatorial task forces to have open sessions and notify the public of their meetings.

"The governor-elect's team could have avoided a lawsuit easily by doing the right thing and opening these meetings to the public," Stevens said.

Thames added: "I still want to believe that Kathleen Sebelius stands for open government and someone is simply giving our new governor bad advice."

The governor-elect and her aides have said they did not believe the teams are subject to the meetings law.

"I did check with the attorney general's office before we went forward," Sebelius said. "They assured me that this is perfectly within the realm of the law."

Attorney General Carla Stovall's office has said the teams will fall under the meetings law once Sebelius is inaugurated as governor on Jan. 13. Until then, Sebelius is a private citizen, and the law does not apply to her teams, Stovall has said.

"I think if the goal was to have a legal interpretation, the only place to get that is a court," Sebelius said.

Update

Kansas governor-elect can close team meetings
But judge rebukes Kathleen Sebelius, saying the 'time has long passed that critical public policy decisions can be formulated and based on privately held discussions.'  01.07.03