By Jay Nolan, Nolan Group Media
Your right to know what your public officials are saying and doing was recently gutted by the Kentucky Supreme Court.
Overturning a lower court decision, in a 4 to 2 ruling on Thursday, April 23rd the court determined that the Kentucky Open Records Act does not apply to individual officials of a public agency, if they are using their personal devices, such as cell phones, even for public business.
The four justices said the nearly 50-year-old Open Records Act only applies to agencies when they act “as a whole body.”
It is very easy for public officials, from our local magistrates and mayors to the governor himself, to use a personal cell phone. After this ruling, just by using their cell phone, any official can legally hide their communications about official public issues from us all. Obviously, that’s a big problem!
Writing in sharp dissent to the court’s ruling, Justice Shea Nickell accurately stated such a “categorical exclusion” could “eviscerate” open records laws. And noted it could encourage officials to use private devices specifically to hide public business. We agree.
Transparency and openness build trust. This Supreme Court ruling further erodes what little trust many of us have left in our government.
In its majority opinion, written by Justice Kelly Thompson, the court noted if this is to change, the state legislature must pass new laws.
So, let’s all encourage our legislators to please pass a law that says: Public business can’t be discussed on private devices and platforms, and if it is, it is subject to public disclosure. Proposed by the Society of Professional journalist, Bluegrass chapter, this is a simple fix to a big problem.
