Should private schools disclose more?

From The Cincinnati Enquirer A four-page bill is causing a stink in Cincinnati. It's a back-and-forth battle about parents’ right to know versus private schools’ right to independent operation.

The bill would require private schools to publish some information on their websites, including enrollment and financial data. Other information – reading lists and school bylaws, for example – would have to be accessible to parents of enrolled students.

“Transparency is the only thing that’s going to save us,” said Rep. Thomas Brinkman, Jr., R-Mount Lookout, the bill’s primary sponsor. “Things get hidden, and things happen behind the scenes. And the only way we’re going to be able to make informed decisions and know what’s going on is if we require our institutions to be transparent in their operations.”

Opponents have a different take.

Heidi Huber, who is running against Brinkman this election, said the bill is an affront to the very definition of private schooling. She called it an overreach and the “antitheses of liberty and education.”

Huber said the bill, which hasn’t made it out of committee yet for a full House vote, was the final straw in her decision to run against Brinkman. The two will face off in the March primary.

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Enquirer sues fire marshal over fatal fire

From The Cincinnati Enquirer The Enquirer on Tuesday sued the State Fire Marshal for withholding records in its investigation into the death of a Hamilton firefighter.

In refusing to release the fire marshal's initial report, Assistant Ohio Attorney General Hilary Damaser said in an email investigators considered the fire a non-routine criminal matter "from their very first approach."

The Enquirer, in its lawsuit, called this revelation concerning. The fire has since been ruled arson.

"An investigator who commences the investigation with his mind already made up is derelict in his duty," The Enquirer wrote. "The investigators' apparent prejudices make the need for public access to the SFM Report, and resulting scrutiny, all the more pressing."

Firefighter Patrick Wolterman died Dec. 28 rushing into a home he believed might have been occupied.

NY Times editorial: No more exposés in North Carolina

Editorial from The New York Times

Factory farm operators believe that the less Americans know about what goes on behind their closed doors, the better for the industry. That’s because the animals sent through those factories often endure an unimaginable amount of mistreatment and abuse.

Cows too sick to walk are dragged by the neck across cement floors. Pigs are stabbed and beaten with sledgehammers. Chickens are thrown against walls and stomped to death. And accepted industry practices, like confining animals in impossibly small cages, are just as brutal.

Nearly always, this treatment comes to light only because courageous employees — or those posing as employees — take undercover video and release it to the public. The industry should welcome such scrutiny as a way to expose the worst operators. Instead, the industry’s lobbyists have taken the opposite approach, pushing for the passage of so-called “ag-gag” laws, which ban undercover recordings on farms and in slaughterhouses. These measures have failed in many states, but they have been enacted in eight. None has gone as far as North Carolina, where a new law that took effect Jan. 1 aims to silence whistle-blowers not just at agricultural facilities, but at all workplaces in the state. That includes, among others, nursing homes, day care centers, and veterans’ facilities.

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Consumers' Counsel request for records denied

From The Columbus Dispatch American Electric Power may have double-charged Ohio consumers for more than $120 million related to certain fuel costs, but most details are being kept under wraps while regulators investigate, with no timetable for resolution.

The Office of the Ohio Consumers’ Counsel has asked for greater disclosure of records in the case, only to be denied this month by an administrative law judge.

“AEP’s request for secrecy is a bad idea for this public process examining more than a hundred million dollars of charges to consumers,” said Dan Doron, a spokesman for the consumer advocate’s office.

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Supreme court hears Springfield schools’ public records case

From The Dayton Daily News

It could be three to six months before the Supreme Court of Ohio makes a decision in a 2014 public records case involving Springfield City School District and nonprofit School Choice Ohio, but both sides got to make oral arguments before the justices on Tuesday.

The court’s decision could have an impact on how much discretion school districts have under federal privacy and state public record laws to decide the fate of their student data.

The case centers on a public records request made by School Choice Ohio in 2014 for Springfield student names, addresses and other contact information, which the district denied citing the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).

The advocacy group routinely makes such requests to districts statewide for their student directory information and then uses it to contact parents about scholarship opportunities — sometimes called vouchers — that students in low-performing districts can use to attend private schools.

The SCSD board of education changed its records policy in 2013, saying that no student information would be designated as “directory information” — student data that is exempt from FERPA and becomes public record. Instead, the district sends out a consent form at the beginning of each school year, giving parents the option whether to release certain information about their student to school partners or not.

In court Tuesday, School Choice Ohio’s lawyer argued that the district cannot pick and choose what entities it releases information to once that consent form is signed.

“Ohio law does not give a superintendent or a school board that discretion,” David Movius said, pointing out that the district gave student names and other information to several other organizations it considers “friends” while only denying School Choice’s request because it sees the group as a “foe.”

“There is a basic issue of fairness here,” Movius told the News-Sun.

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Butler County prosecutor ordered to pay $25K for Enquirer's attorney's fees in open records case

From The Cincinnati Enquirer Butler County Prosecutor Michael Gmoser must pay The Enquirer $25,463 in a case involving 911 recordings the state Supreme Court said Gmoser “lacked legal authority” to withhold.

That money represents attorney’s fees The Enquirer incurred as it battled Gmoser over the release of the recordings.

The Ohio Supreme Court last March found Gmoser’s office “stymied a significant public benefit” by withholding the recordings, and said The Enquirer was entitled to attorney’s fees. The high court sent the case back to the 12th District Court of Appeals to determine the amount. A magistrate last week issued the order.

The decision stems from the case of Michael Ray, who killed his stepfather on Father’s Day in 2012. Ray, now 21, was convicted of murder and is serving 15 years to life in prison.

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Public records lawsuits cost South Euclid $8,700 in legal fees, insurance paid $19,200

From The Plain Dealer South Euclid paid Law Director Michael Lograsso $8,700 in legal fees for his role in a three-year records dispute with a taxpayer. The city's insurance company paid $19,200 for outside attorneys at Nicola, Gudbranson & Cooper.

The Ohio Supreme Court ordered South Euclid in December to turn over records to Emilie DiFranco, after she waited two years for the documents, and pay her $600 for making her wait for another set of records she requested.

That was the third time DiFranco sued South Euclid for failing to respond to records requests. In 2014, the Supreme Court ruled in DiFranco's favor in two cases in which she waited two months to get a response to a 2011 request, and eight months to receive the records.

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OU seeks Attorney General's opinion on Athens News records request

From The Athens News

Ohio University's top lawyer said last week that the university has asked the Ohio Attorney General's office for advice on whether certain records should be released to the public through a pending Athens NEWS records request.

John Biancamano, OU's general legal counsel, said in an email Tuesday that he expected to hear advice from both the Attorney General's Office and the Ohio Office of the Inspector General by the end of the week. The situation Biancamano is seeking clarification on relates to a likely investigation of the university by the OIG's office, which investigates possible wrongdoing on the part of state agencies.

Despite a month awaiting results of its records request, The Athens NEWS has not received copies of a list of OU-compiled records the news organization asked for, which the university provided to the OIG's office late last year. Similar records were provided to The NEWS previously in 2015 without any hesitation on the part of the university's legal office (which processes records requests).

The struggle for the records started when Biancamano told The NEWS on Jan. 5 the university would not provide records the university most recently provided the OIG’s office through November and December 2015 until the OIG’s office’s investigation is complete. However, in denying the records, Biancamano cited a section of Ohio Revised Code that The NEWS and at least two Ohio Public Records law experts interviewed do not believe applies to the university in this instance.

Typically, when a state agency denies a records request, the entity must cite Ohio law that specifically prohibits the release of such records.

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Court to determine if public school district must give private school advocate student names and addresses

From Court News Ohio A non-profit group that informs students in “low-rated” public schools about the state’s Educational Choice Scholarship claims Springfield City Schools are improperly using a federal privacy law to block the group fom getting the childrens' names and addresses. The Ohio Supreme Court will hear oral arguments next week to determine if Springfield’s change in policy violates the state’s public records act.

School Choice Ohio, Inc. (SCO) attempts to inform parents and students about the 14,000 scholarships the state now provides to students attending or entering “low-rated” schools as designated by the Ohio Department of Education. To reach those eligible, SCO makes public records requests for names and addresses from districts with scholarship-eligible students. In School Choice Ohio, Inc. v. Springfield City School District, it states Springfield as well as other districts routinely provided the group the basic information. However, when Springfield adopted a new policy in 2013 citing the federal Family Education Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA) as preventing it from releasing the data, SCO came directly to the Supreme Court to seek an order forcing the district to provide it. The statewide organizations representing public school board members and administrators have asked the Court to back Springfield’s policy, claiming this is an important case to uphold the discretion of all local school boards.

SCO asks for information that qualifies as “directory information” under FERPA and can be released by a school district without parental consent, unless a parent has specifically requested a school district not release it. FERPA, in general, prohibits education records and “personally-identifiable information” about students from being released to anyone other than students and their parents. However, it gives districts the options of designating and releasing certain information that the federal government deems not harmful, such as names, addresses, participation in activities and sports, achievements, honors, and dates of graduation. That data can be distributed if the district provides notice to parents that it intends to make it public and gives parents time to opt out if they don’t want the information released.

In January 2013, Springfield denied SCO’s directory information request for students in seven schools on the state low-rated list, saying it passed a policy stopping the collection of “directory information.” Instead the consent notice to parents was replaced with a new consent form that collected essentially the same information, but only allows for the release of the data if the parents actually signed a form, and then, the district would share the information only for purposes approved by the superintendent.

SCO counters that under the state public records law, R.C. 149.43, if Springfield collected names and addresses, it had to make them public regardless of whether the data was labeled directory information. The group argues that the district at least has to provide the information for students whose parents signed the form permitting the information to be released.

House backs bill to update Freedom of Information law as report faults Obama administration

From US News and World Report The House approved legislation Monday making it easier to obtain government records, as a new congressional report concluded that the freedom of information process under the Obama administration is broken and in need of serious change.

The bill, approved by a voice vote, would require government agencies to make information available to the public online. It also would require agencies to adopt a presumption in favor of disclosing records rather than keeping them secret.

The vote came as Republicans on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee released a report asserting that the freedom of information law, enacted 50 years ago, is plagued by a number of problems, including a lack of communication from federal agencies, unreasonable redactions and abusive fees.

Backlogs of Freedom of Information Act requests have more than doubled since President Barack Obama took office in 2009, the report said, and agencies are sitting on thousands of unfulfilled document requests.

"When President Obama took office he promised an 'unprecedented level of openness in government.' This report demonstrates that is not the case," said Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, chairman of the House Oversight panel.

Instead of the promised openness and transparency, "this administration is playing a game of hide the document from the American people," Chaffetz said.

Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, the top Democrat on the oversight panel, called the GOP report unfair and said committee members were not given a chance to vote on it.

"There is no doubt that the FOIA process can and must be improved," Cummings said, "but issuing this erroneous, incomplete and highly partisan staff report will not help these goals."

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Ohio turns to security expert to shield lethal drug info

From The Associated Press As Ohio sought to justify its reasoning for shielding the names of people or companies providing lethal drugs to the prison system, it paid a security consultant who determined that identifying the suppliers would put them at risk of “harm, violence or unlawful acts of intimidation,” according to newly released documents.

But a pair of attorneys representing a condemned killer says the consultant simply repackaged a similar threat assessment he did for Texas. The security consultant, Lawrence Cunningham, said he couldn’t immediately identify specific threats against anyone in Ohio. But he said threats in other states have come from inmates and their families.

Anti-death penalty advocates have accused Texas and other states of hyping threats to avoid disclosing pharmacies providing lethal drugs.

Ohio has repeatedly delayed executions because it can’t obtain lethal objection drugs. Twenty-five inmates are scheduled to die beginning early next year, but the prison system still doesn’t have the necessary drugs.

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Repository editorial: Ohio lawmakers want policies on body cameras

Editorial from The Canton Repository Police departments across Stark County and the state could glean a lot from the Canton Police Department and its use of body cameras.

The department explored using cameras before civil rights groups and others called for them in response to a nationwide series of police-involved shootings. Cameras provide another layer of accountability and transparency.

Chief Bruce Lawver says they’ve been a success in the first nine months they’ve been in use. Canton Police Patrolmen’s Association President Bill Adams welcomes the cameras, unlike some other police union presidents in the state.

The department’s policy is based on standards set by the International Association of Chiefs of Police.

Across the state, though, some departments are unsure of which rules to follow or what footage is considered an open record. Gov. John Kasich’s Ohio Collaborative Community-Police Advisory Board is crafting statewide standards that will involve privacy, operations, public records and other issues.

Last month, Ohio lawmakers introduced a bill that would require police departments to have a policy on how cameras are used and make that policy available to the public. The idea, one lawmaker told the Associated Press, is to create a structure and framework for the use of these cameras because policies seem to be inconsistent across the state.

The bill allows for some flexibility of policy from one department to the next.

What it does not do is say who should have access to the video footage, or how it should be stored, archived and retained.

While we believe body camera video is subject to current public records laws, the mobility of these cameras has prompted constitutional questions about privacy. And the issue over how video footage is archived could become a cost issue for departments over time, which is why clear and concise policies are needed. The American Civil Liberties Union, for example, recommends departments keep videos of alleged misconduct for two years.

Other states have taken rigid stances on the footage. South Carolina lawmakers passed a law last year exempting body camera video from its public records laws. Proposed legislation in Louisiana and Missouri would do the same in most situations.

Without specific state or federal rules in place, the Canton Law Department has, wisely, applied basic public records laws when it comes to body camera video and is using “best practices as we go,” Law Director Joseph Martuccio told the Rep’s Kelly Byer. Still, the department doesn’t have a retention schedule. Nor did it provide a specific explanation for why portions of video Byer requested were redacted — only the general reasons why it could be.

That’s why lawmakers would be wise to remove any doubt for departments crafting these policies. In most situations, body camera footage belongs to the public. Ohio needs uniform policies stating just that.

Supreme Court allows Enquirer camera lawsuits to continue

From The Cincinnati Enquirer The Ohio Supreme Court Wednesday allowed two lawsuits brought by The Enquirer involving dash or body cams to continue, meaning the court will rule on whether prosecutors and police can withhold such footage from the media and the public as part of their investigations.

In March, The Enquirer sued the Ohio Department of Public Safety to gain access to dashcam footage captured in January during a high-speed chase along Interstate 71. In July, The Enquirer sued the Hamilton County Prosecutor's office for not turning over bodycam footage taken during the traffic stop and shooting of Samuel DuBose by former University of Cincinnati police officer Ray Tensing.

The footage in both cases was requested under the Ohio Open Records Act, but initially withheld by both agencies. They argued the footage should be exempt because it was part of an ongoing criminal investigation.

The footage in both cases was eventually made public.  The Ohio State Highway Patrol released the I-71 chase video in May, saying that the investigation was complete. Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters released the DuBose video in early August. That footage provided key evidence in eventual murder charges against Tensing. Deters released it only after a grand jury indicted Tensing for murder.

Deters took nearly six months to release dashcam video that was taken shortly after the shooting of Cincinnati Police officer Sonny Kim, although that is not part of these legal actions.

"We are grateful the Court has agreed to take this on. We continue to believe strongly these videos are public records and should be available to the public," Enquirer vice president and editor Peter Bhatia said in a statement.

Enquirer attorney Jack Greiner said that the Supreme Court could have dismissed both cases as being irrelevant since the footage was already released. Both agencies being sued had asked the court to consider the cases moot.

"But because they didn't do that, it suggests to me that the Supreme Court agrees that there is a bigger issue here that they'd like to settle," Greiner said. "The question is, 'are such dashcam or bodycam videos subject to any exemption of the public records act?' We say no. But the agencies say yes because they claim it is confidential investigatory material.

"And we are looking forward to continuing our arguments."

Deters has also publicly stated he would like a final answer to the question. In the response to The Enquirer lawsuit, the Hamilton County Prosecutor's office stated that while the case was possibly moot, the agency "would make no objection if the Court decided to entertain the matter and decide the case on the merits.”

Initial evidence in the case is due within 20 days, and further filings and briefs are due a month after that, meaning a ruling could come sometime in spring.

Beacon Journal editorial: Get on the transparency train

Editorial from The Akron Beacon Journal

Josh Mandel has been a politician in a big hurry. Shortly after winning the office of Ohio treasurer, he jumped into the race for the U.S. Senate, appearing overmatched by the quest and losing to Sherrod Brown. He since has won re-election, and now, as treasurer, is applying his impatience in a more constructive fashion.

Mandel has been pressing for local governments to follow state offices and participate in OhioCheckbook.com, a website put together by the treasurer’s office and designed to allow Ohioans to follow in detail public spending by government entities. The site is a valuable contribution, adding new dimensions of transparency and accountability. As Mandel readily notes, Ohio not long ago ranked among the least transparent states, and now, with this new tool, it is one of the most transparent.

Part of what makes the site effective is the Google-like search mechanism. It is simple, intuitive and comprehensive. The public will find value in such things as the ease in tracking expenditures and making comparisons among local governments.

The city of Stow was the first local entity in Summit County to join OhioCheckbook. Next came New Franklin. The roster now includes the cities of Tallmadge, Cuyahoga Falls and Barberton. All told, 435 local governments (out of nearly 3,300) have committed. On that list are the city schools and the county and city governments in some of the state’s largest urban areas, Cincinnati, Toledo, Dayton, Columbus and Youngstown.

The Akron Public Schools, the city of Akron and Summit County are not participants. They should get on board early in the new year.

Mandel has won the commitment of all five state pension systems (four last week). The treasurer has in mind state universities joining next. The pension funds were the target of Mandel jawing in public. That pressure is fair play. If some worry about the miscasting of data for partisan advantage, they have a point. Yet such costs are far outweighed by the public benefit.

For his part, the treasurer is advancing something that features little but upsides. He rightly has talked about the logic of JobsOhio, the privatized arm of state economic development, taking part. Yet he must take care not to lose his way, as he is prone to do, because of opportunism.

As the Dayton Daily News reported, the treasurer was slow to start cajoling charter schools. He now has invited them to post their data. In the spirit of following the public money, he would do well to push for-profit charter school operators to do the same. Mandel may see cover in a recent Ohio Supreme Court ruling. Yet the justices cited the failings of lawmakers, not a clear legal principle about public money somehow turning into private funds.

How about this amount of transparency, Mandel having received big campaign money from for-profit charter operators?

The treasurer wants the public to have a greater chance of seeing how its money is spent. He could not be more right.

DeWine: Fetal tissue probe records not public

From The Telegraph-Forum Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine's investigators compiled more than 66,000 pages of records on how Planned Parenthood disposed of aborted fetuses in a landfill.

But you can't look at any of them, thanks to a 1953 law that keeps investigations into nonprofit agencies private.

DeWine recently announced that Planned Parenthood's abortion clinics in Mount Auburn and Columbus used a third-party business, Accu Medical Waste Services, to dispose of fetal tissue by heating it in an autoclave to kill bacteria, then disposing of the remains in a Kentucky landfill. It was less clear how the third Planned Parenthood abortion clinic near Cleveland disposes of aborted fetuses.

The details were part of a several-month investigation into whether Planned Parenthood sold fetal tissue in Ohio. The probe was prompted by videos, which Planned Parenthood officials say were heavily edited, that purport to show abortion providers selling fetal tissue. DeWine's investigation found no proof that tissue was sold in Ohio.

On Monday, Gannett Ohio and The Enquirer asked for copies of that 66,000-plus page investigation, which includes financial records and interviews with Planned Parenthood officials. Outraged lawmakers are using the findings as one basis for new legislation to require that fetal remains be buried or cremated.

But the records aren't public because of a little-used law from 1953 that prohibits DeWine from releasing any investigation compiled by his charitable law section, which looks into nonprofit organizations like Planned Parenthood.

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Vindicator editorial: State checkbook is a key to government openness

Editorial from The Vindicator

It’s a mantra Ohioans have heard many times, but from our vantage point it never gets old: “I believe taxpayers have the right to know how their tax dollars are being spent.”

Those are the words Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel uses in making his pitch to local governments and school districts for their participation in OhioCheckbook.com, the transparency initiative he launched a year ago.

To date, almost 400 of the 3,962 public entities have committed to join the movement that holds officeholders and others accountable to the taxpayers.

The ultimate goal is to have the financial transactions of every city, county, township, school district, library district and others online so Ohioans can access the information with a click of the mouse.

It was last December that Mandel unveiled OhioCheckbook.com, an easily searchable website that featured state revenue and expenses dating back to 2008.

“I believe taxpayers have a right to know how their tax money is being spent, and I’m doing this to empower the people to hold politicians and bureaucrats accountable,” the state treasurer said at the time. “I subscribe to the notion that sunlight is the greatest disinfectant to government waste.”

The online checkbook, which took two years to complete and cost $814,000 to build, initially detailed more than $400 billion in state spending from 2008 on – and featured more than 4 billion pieces of distinct spending information. The response from the public was phenomenal, especially when it came to taxpayers perusing the payrolls of departments and agencies.

That reaction from Ohioans prompted Mandel to expand the transparency push to include local governments and school districts. Thus today, the checkbook contains more than $500 billion in public spending.

First among all counties

In April, the treasurer came to Youngstown to announce that Mahoning County government would be the first county operation to put its checkbook online via the state system. Commissioners Anthony Traficanti, Carol Rimedio-Righetti and David Ditzler, Auditor Ralph Meacham and others joined Mandel at the news conference.

“What you’re going to see is dominoes fall all across the state because of the leadership from counties like Mahoning County,” he said.

Trumbull County government has followed suit.

Mandel’s announcement was music to our ears because we have long demanded openness and accountability from local governments and school systems. Despite the straightforwardness of Ohio’s public records and open meetings laws, there still are those in the public sector who drag their feet when information is sought by the press and public.

The online checkbook is a godsend for citizens interested in monitoring how their tax dollars are being spent.

On Dec. 2, Mandel returned to the Mahoning Valley to announce online partnerships with Youngstown and Mathews school districts and Austintown, Howland, Liberty, Milton and Bazetta townships.

In Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties, there are a total of 32 public entities that have joined the movement.

That said, the absence of Youngstown and Warren city governments from the list is noteworthy and troubling.

The outreach across the state began in April when Mandel sent a letter to 18,062 local government and school officials urging them to place their checkbook level data on OhioCheckbook.com.

There have been almost 400,000 searches on the site, which goes to show that Ohioans are hungry for unfiltered information.

Given this heightened public interest, we urge the Ohio Senate to follow the lead of the Ohio House and pass House Bill 46, which ensures that the transparency initiative will survive long after Mandel leaves the treasurer’s office. Sponsors of the bill recently testified before the Senate Finance Committee, and we are confident the legislation will be reported out without delay.

The Republican leadership should quickly schedule a floor vote so Ohioans can rest assured that they will have easy access to the financial transactions of state and local governments, school districts and other public entities.

- See more at: http://www.vindy.com/news/2015/dec/13/state-checkbook-is-a-key-to-government-o/?newswatch#sthash.M0LUIwUg.dpuf

Plain Dealer editorial: Ohio Department of Education must turn over state superintendent's emails

Editorial from The Plain Dealer The Ohio Department of Education continues to provide flimsy and inadequate excuses for refusing to turn over the emails of retiring state schools Superintendent Richard Ross that might pertain to the illegal scrubbing of the poor grades of online schools.

It's hard to believe that not a single email sent or received by Ross dealt with this major scandal, which led earlier this year to the resignation of ODE's school-choice chief, David Hansen.

The department must obey the law and hand over these very public documents without further delay.

Kim Norris, a spokeswoman for ODE, said in an email the department intends "to comply with the requests," as it has in the past.

In that case, ODE should have honored Plain Dealer reporter Patrick O'Donnell's original request for all of Ross' emails about the scandal. It's clear the department has forgotten it is merely a custodian.

After ODE said there were no such emails because Ross rarely used email, O'Donnell asked for all of Ross' 2014 and 2015 emails. The response was another denial – on the grounds the request was too broad.

O'Donnell's latest request is for Ross' emails on Community Connections, a student mentoring program started by Gov. John Kasich – so he can determine how often Ross has used his email, at least on that topic.

Yes, ODE did turn over, at The Plain Dealer's request, 100,000 emails, texts and notes concerning the charter-school scrubbing scandal, but those documents included, amazingly, nothing – NOTHING -- from Ross.  For the record, Ross has maintained that he did not know that Hansen was erasing poor test scores from online charter schools.

Still, if the scrubbing hadn't been flagged by Plain Dealer reporter Patrick O'Donnell and the state school board, the sponsors of these schools might have been eligible to collect perks from ODE.  That would make a mockery of state efforts to reform Ohio's troubled charter school system by making it harder for bad charters to stay in business.

The Ohio Department of Education has to stop stalling, turn over all of Ross' emails relating to this incident and allow reporters the right to read every one of them.  Pronto.

Ohio Supreme Court orders Ed FitzGerald key card data release, but backs county's initial refusal

From The Plain Dealer The Ohio Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered Cuyahoga County to release key-card swipe data for former County Executive Ed FitzGerald to the Ohio Republican Party, but the split ruling gives both sides ammo to argue they won the debate.

In a 4-3 ruling, the Republican Party won the right to the data showing FitzGerald's comings and goings from the county building while he was county executive.

But the court also held that Cuyahoga County acted within its authority when it initially rejected the GOP's public records request under an exemption for security records in state law.

Matt Borges, chairman of the Ohio Republican Party, said Wednesday it was important for the party to see the case through. It reaffirms the party's belief that the records should see the light of day, he said.

"We were willing and ready to abide by the Supreme Court's decision either way. We're glad we got this done," Borges said. "I think the only person playing politics on this was Ed FitzGerald. He successfully blocked the release of this information until after the election and that's what he wanted."

Current Cuyahoga County Executive Armond Budish also praised the ruling.

"We are pleased to see the Ohio Supreme Court agreed with our position that the records were protected at the time Executive FitzGerald was in office, until such time as he left office," Budish said in a statement. "In today's opinion the Court held that because Mr. FitzGerald is no longer the County Executive, the key card data is no longer a security record."

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Nominations sought for Champion of Open Government award

The Ohio Coalition for Open Government (OCOG) is seeking nominations for the first annual Champion of Open Government award. The award will recognize those individuals and groups who have worked to improve open government in Ohio. CHAMPION OF OPEN GOVERNMENT AWARD

The Champion of Open Government (COG) Award recognizes the passion and mission of ongoing advocacy and contributions to open and transparent government in Ohio. Recipient can be either an individual or organization, including but not limited to:

• Journalists (Traditional Print; Radio/TV Broadcast; Digital)
• Government officials/legislators/judicial officials
• Anyone representing a level of government from a Township Trustee to Governor, and every elected or appointed official in between.
• Any citizen or lawyer.

Nomination(s) should be sent to Jason Sanford at jsanford@ohionews.org. Nominations should include the name of both the nominee(s) and the person submitting the nomination; contact information; a brief one page synopsis of the nominee’s particular accomplishment; and any other support information (news clippings, links, etc.) that may help the judges to decide.

 Deadline for nominations is December 15, 2015.

Judging will be completed by a panel of engaged and knowledgeable professionals appointed by the OCOG board of directors.

The award will be presented during the ONA Annual Convention in February, 2016.

OCOG is a tax-exempt 501 (c)(3) corporation established by the Ohio Newspapers Foundation in June 1992. The Coalition is operated for charitable and educational purposes by conducting and supporting activities to benefit those who seek compliance with public access laws. It is also affiliated with a national network of similar state coalitions

Records show extent of Taylor aide’s work

From The Columbus Dispatch The former chief of staff to Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor did more than tend to her boss’s political future on state time, new records obtained by The Dispatch show.

Laura Johnson says she spent the better part of a day, with help from the governor’s office, addressing a “public-relations issue” involving a construction company run by Taylor’s husband, Don.

She was given the task of booking Taylor’s political appearances and lining up speakers to tell positive stories about Gov. John Kasich — although full details cannot be ascertained because the office of Inspector General Randall J. Meyer, who used to work for Taylor, blacked out several sections.

Johnson also says she was assigned to find a job for Taylor’s neighbor.

Taylor, who lives in Green in Summit County, says she has no recollection of such a request.

On the political tasks, the lieutenant governor presumed that Johnson was working on her own time, a spokeswoman says.

The offices of Kasich and Taylor say they became involved in the matter with Welty Building Co. — whose president and CEO is Don Taylor — because of false allegations leveled against the Department of Insurance, which Taylor directs.

The new details come from a memorandum prepared by Johnson’s lawyer as he attempted to account for work Johnson performed on days when investigators were questioning the hours she actually had worked.

An inspector general’s report found that Johnson, who resigned in mid-2014, likely pocketed pay for hundreds of hours — including while commuting and getting her hair and nails done — during which she performed no work. Meyer concluded that Taylor failed to properly supervise her staff, including a former administrative assistant also accused of falsifying time sheets to claim pay for hours not worked.

After the report was released, a Dispatch analysis of Meyer’s records found that Johnson also apparently spent dozens of hours of state time on meetings and telephone calls on behalf of the successful 2014 re-election campaign of Kasich and Taylor.

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