A few legislators have turned fishing with a wide net into a very expensive and burdensome political sport. They can, as some have, dash off sweeping open record requests with state agencies, in secret and without any responsibility to foot the bill, unlike others requesting public information. A bill aimed at putting a stop to this petty practice should sail through the Legislature.
The tactic of submitting secret requests for record sweeps first surfaced a couple of years ago, in the midst of turmoil involving a divisive and autocratic chancellor of higher education. Legislative allies of now-former Chancellor Hamid Shirvani, with shotguns blazing, peppered campuses with requests for all emails from the 10 public college and university presidents going back almost a year.
Complying with the requests would have cost anywhere from $26,000 to more than $40,000, including time spent redacting sensitive information from more than 100,000 emails. The requests were scaled back, and one legislator, Rep. Al Skarphol, R-Tioga, later admitted to being one of several legislators he said were behind the requests, but the identity of the others remains hidden.
Recently, Rep. Jim Kasper, R-Fargo, an ax-wielding opponent of the Common Core education standards, submitted 26 records requests of state education officials, seeking all communications between private, federal and state entities for a period of almost six years. A public information officer said it would take a big panel truck to carry the industrial load of paper the request would have generated.
Kasper pared down his request, but his intrusive and ill-considered maneuver was enough for some of his legislative colleagues to call a halt to the practice. A bill was introduced that would bar legislators from making anonymous public record requests. The measure also would cap at $5,000 the amount any single legislator could rack up in records request costs during a biennium. To spend more, the lawmaker would have to find another source of money or persuade leaders the information is worth the time and expense.
To be perfectly clear, we vigorously support the public’s right to information through open records and open meetings laws. The reform bill – backed by legislative leaders – properly seeks to prevent rogue “witch hunts” and prevent anonymous, ax-grinding information quests at taxpayers’ expense. Lawmakers shouldn’t be given preferential treatment when asking for truckloads of information through indiscriminate requests. Members should end the practice and support the bill to impose reasonable restraints.
Forum editorials represent the opinion of Forum management and the newspaper’s Editorial Board.
