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Last month I ventured to civilization to receive a writing award. It was for second place, and no profession issues more awards than journalism, so I'll forswear boasting about the particulars. The process did inspire some thought, though -- what if journalists gave awards to others, instead of themselves?
One category that comes to mind would honor those who best evade the Colorado Public Records Law, and there are many contenders.
The law states that It is declared to be the public
policy of this state that all public records shall be open
for inspection by any person at reasonable times...
It defines a public record as all writings made,
maintained, or kept by the state, any agency, institution,
or political subdivision of the state.
The last time I checked, the City of Greeley was a political subdivision of the State of Colorado. Even so, the Greeley Police Department once managed to keep all the details hidden about four cases in which police officers injected bullets into civilians.
Here are public employees presumably performing public duties while on the public payroll, and yet the public is not supposed to know what they're doing.
One of my favorite troublemakers is Jeanne Englert, now of Lafayette. She's a native of Aspen and a former Durangutang who edited the Southern Ute Drum during her Four Corners tenure.
Over the years, she has amassed an extensive collection of amazing stories about water conservancy districts and their desire to avoid public scrutiny.
Never heard of a water conservancy district? In ways, they resemble other special districts in Colorado -- they have directors who make decisions and hire staff to carry out the decisions. A district has boundaries, within which it can levy property taxes and presumably serve its constituents. Water conservancy districts can build and operate water projects, and can also buy, sell and deliver water.
In other words, these water conservancy districts can
wield considerable power in this vast desert where water
is the lifeblood of the arid West.
Since our country was founded upon the principle of
no taxation without representation,
you might think
that the directors of these districts -- districts that can
levy taxes -- would be elected, just like the directors of
school and hospital districts.
But you'd be wrong. In almost all cases, they're appointed by district judges. (There is a provision in the law for electing water conservancy district directors. It happened in Weld County more than 20 years ago, and it's happening at the moment for a seat on the board of the Upper Gunnison Water Conservancy District.)
Jeanne Englert has for years lobbied to change the law so that water conservancy boards are elected by the public. Along the way, she and others have tried to find out how these boards spend the money they collect from the public.
Many of these boards apparently have something to hide, and here's how they do it. They have their law firm arrange for the district's activities, which could range from lobbying to engineering studies. The law firm pays them, then submits one big non-itemized bill to the district, which is duly paid with public funds. The itemized bill stays at the lawyer's office, where board members, but not the public on account of attorney-client privilege, can inspect it.
And then we come to the autopsy reports on the victims of the Columbine High School shootings. The examinations were conducted by public employees acting on behalf of the public while investigating a crime against the people of the state of Colorado.
Among those petitioning to hide the reports, normally a public record, were the Jefferson County coroner and district attorney -- who apparently don't want anyone to see how well they did or didn't perform their duties.
Most parents of the victims also asked to have the reports sealed, saying they feared some sort of media spectacle. I'd have a lot more respect for that position if it were possible to go through a day without seeing those parents use the media to promote fund-raising, new gun laws, religious activities, etc.
Judge Henry Nieto put their interest ahead of the public
interest when he granted the petition to seal the autopsy
reports. That was doubtless the popular thing to do, but
in the long run, it will produce a greater media
spectacle
as questions get asked about friendly fire,
police communications, SWAT team responses and the
like.
At any rate, I don't know who might win first prize for
Best Evasion of the Colorado Public Records Law,
but
it's safe to say that the competition is spirited, and that
many of the judges -- the real ones, not the contest judges
-- are squarely on the side of the competitors, rather than
the tax-paying public.
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