Open records

As Congress puts $8.5 trillion in taxpayer dollars toward rescuing institutions that have lost their financial footing, more than 70 open government and taxpayer-representative groups are urging transparency and oversight in the process.

In his ongoing investigation into the Yankees' new baseball stadium, New York Assemblyman Richard Brodsky uncovered e-mail messages sent by Mayor Michael Bloomberg's top aides that show an aggressive bid for a free luxury suite at taxpayer expense, the New York Daily News reported.

The Sunshine in Government Initiative released a new set of transition team proposals for the incoming Obama administration this week with a focus on the news media.

SGI, of which the Reporters Committee is a member, had four key recommendations for the White House.

Alaska Republican watchdog Andree McLeod filed a lawsuit Friday seeking another round of Gov. Sarah Palin’s e-mail messages and a court order preventing the would-be vice president from destroying the records.

McLeod initially filed one request under Alaska’s open records law for Palin’s e-mail in June, long before Palin joined Sen. John McCain on the Republican presidential ticket. Friday’s suit stems from that request and an additional records request she filed on Oct. 1.

The Iowa City Press-Citizen is forging ahead with an open records suit against the University of Iowa.  

In response to an ongoing records request, the newspaper this week received a log of information the university is withholding from it related to an alleged sexual assault involving the university’s football players.  

A West Virginia judge ruled Wednesday that even the state Supreme Court is subject to public records laws, just as “every state officer” would be, The Associated Press said.

The AP had requested e-mails from West Virginia Supreme Court Chief Justice Elliot “Spike” Maynard as part of its coverage of Maynard's alleged corporate ties, but the request was denied. The wire service reports it then sued for the information under the state Freedom of Information Act.

 The Ohio Supreme Court heard oral arguments Wednesday on whether a deleted government e-mail file qualifies as a public document subject to state open records requests, according to The (Toledo) Blade.  

Beset by newsroom cutbacks and declining revenue, news groups are fighting fewer battles over public records -- and government officials are getting hip to the trend, according to a panel of journalists at a National Press Club event in Denver this week. 

Faced with efforts in Congress to pull the Smithsonian Institution in under the Freedom of Information Act, the institution's new head told The Associated Press last week he favors maintaining the current status that keeps the museum complex separate from FOIA.

Thanks in part to a state Freedom of Information Act request by the Detroit Free Press, Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick agreed to resign yesterday and accepted a plea bargain that will include jail time.