Editorial: More transparency needed in charter-school reform bill

Editorial From The Canton RepositoryOhio Gov. John Kasich and both Democrats and Republicans in the General Assembly finally appear ready to reform Ohio’s charter schools, some of which aren’t performing up to our educational standards because they lack transparency and accountability. House Bill 2, which is making its way through the Ohio House, cracks down on charter school sponsors and governing boards and allows the Ohio Department of Education to step in when schools fail to meet educational standards.

While it addresses many of the problems with Ohio’s charter school system, it does not go far enough. The bill still allows charter schools to hide their use of taxpayer dollars behind the management companies that run them.

The bill was sponsored by Republican state Reps. Kristina Roegner and Mike Dovilla. It would do the following:

• Require school districts that create dropout recovery charter schools for under-performing students to include those students in annual report cards, rather than offload them to charter schools to boost district grades.

• Require the Ohio Department of Education to sign off when any charter school that receives a D or an F on its performance index and value-added academic progress scores wants to switch sponsors (known as sponsor hopping). Sponsors act to make sure the schools are running properly.

• Calls for more detailed performance expectations in the contracts between schools and their sponsors.

• Forces charter school governing board members to disclose conflicts of interest, either personal or business related, that they have with school operations.

• Prohibits school employees, and the vendors that supply the schools with goods, to sit on the charter school board.

• Only allows the governing board, and no longer sponsors, to hire school treasurers.

The bill also requires disclosure of how sponsors spend their sponsor fees — a positive — but we agree with the Fordham Institute’s Chad Aldis, who said during testimony last week that the bill should prohibit sponsors from spending those fees on anything other than oversight and technical support.

If the state truly wants to crack down on these schools, House Bill 2 and other proposed reforms need to be stronger.

Paper files public records request—and city’s response is a lawsuit

From The Columbia Journalism Review

When a newspaper requests information, there are plenty of ways government bodies can try to avoid releasing it. But the city of Billings, MT, has come up with a novel tactic: Sue the paper simply for asking.

Now, because of the lawsuit, a state judge is currently deciding how to weigh the public’s right to know against an individual’s right to privacy in a place where both are part of the state’s constitution.

Events leading up to this strange legal case stem from last spring, when someone called in a tip to the Billings Gazette, the local daily. The source suggested there might be some mishandling of public funds at the city landfill. So reporters at the paper did what journalists do: They started poking around and asking city officials about it.

According to the paper’s editor, Darrell Ehrlick, officials told reporters an investigation was underway to determine if indeed something stinky was happening at the city dump. The Gazette followed up on the progress of the probe every few weeks to see if there was anything to report. After a while—“As with so many things in government, a journalist’s timeline and a government’s are two very different things,” Ehrlick says—officials indicated the investigation was over, and the city would respond to a formal inquiry about it.

On June 26, 2014, Ehrlick filed a written public records request on behalf of his paper, asking for any record the city had related to an investigation of landfill funds or property being mishandled, misused, or misappropriated.

The timeline of events was pretty straightforward up to that point. “We thought that the process was working fairly well,” Ehrlick told CJR.

Until it wasn’t. Instead of responding to the records request, the city of Billings sued the newspaper.

The city’s argument? According to reports on the case, if the Gazette got the information it wanted, the paper would be able to determine the names of city employees who had been disciplined for their actions. Those city employees might then be able to sue the city for violating their right to privacy by releasing information about them to the paper.

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Mandel wants all public checkbooks online

From The Dayton Daily News Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel is drafting a letter to 3,900 cities, counties and school districts in Ohio offering to help them follow his lead and document every penny they spend on a user-friendly website — at no charge.

If they ignore the offer, Mandel says they can expect a phone call from his office. If they still ignore him, he plans to propose ordinances or push local governments to open their books.

“If they ignore all those things, I’m going to start showing up at city council meetings and school board meetings and I’m going to demand that these local government officials put the finances online because the people have the right to know,” Mandel said in a recent interview with the I-Team.

Mandel in December put online seven years of state transactions, giving the public unprecedented access to browse state expenditures at their leisure. State lawmakers introduced a bill this week that would require future treasurers to maintain the database, which has garnered bipartisan praise.

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Public records request reveals 'flawed' changes made before fatal bridge collapse

From The Cincinnati Enquirer Engineers had to make late changes to the demolition plan of the old Hopple Street Interstate 75 overpass after workers ran into problems tearing down the bridge the night before it collapsed – and those changes may have been flawed and caused the fatal accident.

That is according to an analysis of the demolition plan by an independent bridge expert after the Ohio Department of Transportation and Kokosing Construction released the documents to The Enquirer on Thursday.

The documents were released to the public a day after The Enquirer threatened to sue the state for withholding the demolition plan.

The documents show Kokosing engineers had to make changes to the demolition plan just hours before the bridge collapsed and killed 35-year-old construction worker Brandon Carl on the night of Jan. 19.

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Treasurer Josh Mandel says JobsOhio expenses should be public

From The Plain Dealer Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel said spending by JobsOhio, the state's private economic development organization, should be available to the public.

Mandel's office recently launched a website containing records of all state agency transactions, and he said JobsOhio, funded by bonds backed by state liquor profits, should do the same.

"I believe the benefit of empowering Ohio taxpayers to see how the money is being spent there outweighs the cost of other states seeing how the money is being spent," Mandel said during a panel discussion hosted by the Associated Press. "When we think about transparency in government, we should always err on the side of empowering taxpayers to see how the money is being spent."

JobsOhio spokesman Matt Englehart said there might be a misunderstanding about the organization's transparency.

"We're probably the most transparent private company Ohio has ever seen and that's mandated by law," Englehart said in an email.

Englehart said state law requires the organization to publicly disclose private funds it receives and annually undergo a full review of internal compliance processes.

"We're glad to clarify these for anyone who doesn't understand them or is unfamiliar with them," Englehart said.

JobsOhio's private status has been disputed by critics, but the only legal challenge to the arrangement was rejected last year by the Ohio Supreme Court.

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Editorial: Body cams on police need public comment, best practices

Editorial from The Plain Dealer The recent purchase of 1,500 body cameras for Cleveland patrol officers is a welcome move in trying to rebuild credibility and trust with a public still concerned over the fatal police shooting of 12-year-old Tamir Rice and a recent U.S. Justice Department report that excoriated the police department's use of force.

Body cams on police officers have the potential to increase transparency, accountability and professionalism. But the technology is only as effective as the policies that govern its use.

In 2013, the Police Executive Research Forum partnered with the U.S. Department of Justice to make recommendations on the use of such cameras. A key finding was "the need for a set of standards and best practices regarding body-worn cameras."

Now's the time to develop specific policies for the body cams' use in Cleveland, with full input from the public.

What training will officers undergo? How will privacy issues around crimes such as sexual assaults, domestic violence and abuse of minors be handled? What protocols will govern the release of public records?

"The public needs to understand how these cameras are gonna work," said Cleveland City Councilman Zack Reed, who has been demanding body cams for the better part of a decade. "But we [council] are not doing our due diligence. We should have a policy in place that clearly states what we're gonna do."

Reed is right.

The city of Cleveland is developing a policy that is "in the final stage of review," according to an email from police spokeswoman Jennifer Ciaccia. She added that she did not know when officers were expected to start wearing the body cams, but suggested there would be a public announcement about the general policy on use around the time of their deployment.

Dan Williams, a spokesman for Mayor Frank Jackson, did not return calls for comment. It's unclear whether the city plans public hearings on the policy before it is implemented.

Council President Kevin Kelley said developing the policy wasn't council's job. "It's ultimately an administrative decision," he said.

Kelley is wrong. Council has a duty to make sure the public is included -- via public hearings -- for full transparency on what the policy encompasses, and also to make sure that all concerns are taken into account.

State finally releases Dispatch request for oil train records

From The Columbus Dispatch Millions of gallons of some of the most volatile crude oil in North America are being transported on rail lines through Ohio each week, according to reports that the state had kept secret until this week.

The railroad-company reports show that 45 million to 137 million gallons of Bakken crude oil come through Ohio each week from North Dakota oil fields on the way to East Coast refineries.

Two million to 25 million gallons a week come through Franklin County alone.

Bakken crude oil is desirable to oil and gas companies because it requires less refining than other shale oil to be turned into diesel fuel and gasoline. It also is highly flammable.

Prompted by a 2013 train derailment and explosion that killed 47 people in Quebec and an explosion in Lynchburg, Va., last April, federal regulators began requiring railroads in May to report the average weekly number of trains carrying at least 1 million gallons of Bakken crude.

Those reports are sent to state emergency-management agencies. The U.S. Department of Transportation has said the files don’t contain sensitive security details, prompting some states, including Virginia and Washington, to make the reports public.

Despite requests from environmental groups, citizens and news outlets, including one from The Dispatch in July, Ohio would not release the reports, citing an exemption in the public-records law meant to prevent acts of terrorism.

Then this week, the state released the records to Lea Harper, managing director of the FreshWater Accountability Project, an environmental advocacy group.

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Ohio Supreme Court: Governor’s pardon does not mean criminal records can be sealed

From The Dayton Daily News

A governor’s pardon offers forgiveness but doesn’t automatically mean the offender’s criminal record can be sealed by the courts, according to a 4-3 decision issued Wednesday by the Ohio Supreme Court.

Courts lack the authority to seal these records following a gubernatorial pardon unless the person meets the legal requirements, the high court said.

James Radcliff received a pardon in 2011 from then Gov. Ted Strickland for crimes committed three decades ago in Franklin County. He wanted his criminal record sealed but the Ohio Supreme Court says for that to happen state law would have to be changed because the current statutes don’t permit offenders with multiple convictions to have their criminal records sealed from public view.

Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor said in the majority opinion: “Judges must respect that it is the role of the legislature to address the statutory scheme on sealing records, even in cases in which gubernatorial pardons are granted. Until the General Assembly acts, we are left with the understanding that a pardon provides only forgiveness, not forgetfulness.”

It was the second decision of the day relating to the sealing of records. The Supreme Court also ruled in a separate case that courts may unseal an acquitted defendant’s record only for reasons spelled out in statute and the courts cannot add additional reasons or exceptions.

A defendant was acquitted in 2012 of drug trafficking charges and his request to have the record sealed was granted by the trial court. But three days later the state charged him with retaliating against an informant in that first case. The court then approved the state’s request to gain access to the sealed drug-trafficking case records.

O’Connor said in the ruling that unsealing the records for that purpose wasn’t expressly spelled out in state law.

Editorial: Ohio's death-penalty secrecy is wrong and must not be allowed to take effect

Editorial from The Plain Dealer Condemned murderer Charles Warner went to his death in Oklahoma earlier this month, but not before telling witnesses to his execution what he was feeling.

"My body is on fire," he said, although witnesses reported no signs of obvious distress.

Warner was given a three-drug cocktail that killed him in about 18 minutes. The second drug administered was a paralytic, which could have prevented Warner from expressing the true extent of the pain he may have felt, claimed his lawyer.

Nobody knows for sure and Warner is dead, so we can't ask him.

Ohio has jettisoned a similar multidrug cocktail, last used to kill Dennis McGuire about a year ago in a prolonged procedure that Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction Director Gary Mohr insists did not cause McGuire to suffer, although others disagree.

Ohio now plans to return to an old method -- a one-drug protocol, either pentobarbital or sodium thiopental, drugs the state previously used until their manufacturers declined to continue providing them for executions -- but with a significant difference: The drugs will be concocted per largely secret deals by compounding pharmacies not subject to the same oversight as regular drug manufacturers.

The General Assembly passed an ill-advised law at the end of last year that allows the pharmacies to remain anonymous for 20 years after they stop doing business with the state, and the names of others involved in the process, such as doctors, to remain confidential forever even though the law has a two-year sunset provision.

Such a law is repugnant and wrong. U.S. District Judge Gregory Frost should grant a recent request by four condemned Ohio inmates to prevent the law from going into effect in March, pending a final ruling on their lawyers' challenge to the law's constitutionality.

There is no reason -- and much peril -- in trying to shield those who prepare death-penalty drugs from scrutiny. The drugs are being paid for with taxpayer funds -- meaning those contracts should be open to public review. Nor should the state try to shield medical personnel from professional sanctions in this manner. 

This editorial board has long opposed the death penalty on moral, practical and fairness grounds. If secrecy is the only way the state believes it can carry out the death penalty, then surely it is time to eliminate the death penalty altogether.

Picture still fuzzy for Marietta-Washington County Convention and Visitor's Bureau, public records

From The Marietta Times The local convention and visitors bureau is still trying to nail down its obligations, if any, under Ohio's public records law and hammer out a policy on the matter following records requests from both Marietta City Council and a private citizen in recent months. Private nonprofit organizations such as the Marietta-Washington County Convention and Visitor's Bureau (CVB) generally are not subject to public records requests, explained CVB executive director Jeri Knowlton.

"We're not a government entity and that's where it gets a little hard for people to understand. We don't perform anything that is exclusively reserved to the public sector," she said.

But factors such as amount of government funding-which went from around $450,000 in 2013 to around $575,000 in 2014 for the CVB-and amount of government oversight can affect even a private entities' requirements under Ohio public records law. That gray area came under scrutiny as city council discussed the tourism group's budget and eventually decided to cut the portion of funding the city allots the CVB from city bed tax revenues.

The city requested and was given thorough financial records during the process, but a private citizen who asked for similar records lamented being denied his request at a Marietta City Council meeting in December.

"It's listed as a public body, subject to state audit. But in a request made by a private citizen, I was to pick up these records, I was denied this opportunity," Marietta resident David Haney told council.

Knowlton said it is her understanding that the CVB is obligated to provide records only to the city.

"We are not obligated to have public meetings and we're not obligated to have public records. However we are obligated to give records to the city, and there has never been a single request by the city that we have not fulfilled," she said.

The city had never made a records request of the CVB until this fall when they began considering a funding cut for the organization. At that time council members requested and received detailed end of the year financial statements dating back to 2009, Knowlton added.

City Law Director Paul Bertram III said he believes the CVB could fall under general public records law under a court decision that set up a functional equivalency test. The test determines to what extent a given entity functions in a public office capacity. "I don't believe the (open meetings law) applies to the CVB. I believe open records law, they do apply to them under the functional equivalency test, which is a test espoused by the Ohio Supreme Court," said Bertram.

Bertram, acting through Washington County Prosecutor's Office, is deferring to the State Attorney General's office for an opinion on the matter.

But Dennis Hetzel, executive director of the Ohio Newspaper Association, said he doubts the CVB would meet all four points under the functional-equivalency test and is therefore not required to fulfill public records requests.

The four points which the Ohio Supreme Court put into place include analyzing whether the entity performs a government function, the level of government funding, the extent of government involvement and whether the entity was created by the government.

"The only point that clearly would apply is that a high percentage of their funding comes from local government," said Hetzel.

According to the CVB's tax filings, which are public record and can be found online at guidestar.org, the CVB reported $424,190 in total revenue in 2012. That same year, city records show the city alloted $393,076.70, or roughly 92 percent of the funding, to the CVB through bed tax revenues.

Even if the CVB is not subject to records requests from the general public, there are ways citizens can get some information on an agency, said Hetzel.

Tax filings are a start. In addition to the overall revenue and expenditure numbers, tax filings list a nonprofit's directors and board members and any compensation paid to them.

Additionally, any records the CVB shares with the city become public records, noted Hetzel. "My advice is go after the records the (city) is creating. Those are all public records. I would go to the (city) and ask for the bills, the emails, the communications," he said.

Airport board in Carroll County skirts open meetings law

From The Free Press Standard

The Carroll County Airport Authority Board agreed to accept applications for secretary/treasurer after meeting in executive session last week.

The board met in executive session for 30-minutes during the Jan. 12 meeting to discuss new secretary and treasurer, part time maintenance personnel, the need to hire an accountant to handle the year end audit, and someone to fill the vacancy on the board.

An objection was made by The Free Press Standard regarding the inclusion of the airport board vacancy in the executive session because is not an employee position.  Although the board can make recommendations, appointments to the airport board are made by county commissioners. Board members are not considered personnel. Commissioners accepted applications for the seat until Jan. 15.

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Plain Dealer columnist calls out state senator for impeding public’s right to know

By Brent Larkin, Northeast Ohio Media Group Like any large group, the Ohio General Assembly is a decidedly mixed bag.

A disturbingly large number aren't very smart, but a good many are. A dozen or so qualify as truly outstanding, a credit to their profession, people who not only care about Ohio's future, but act like it.

But there can be only one who qualifies as the Worst Person in the General Assembly.

Selecting the recipient of that title is obviously a subjective thing — just one person's opinion. It's also a spinoff of a technique used on television by Keith Olbermann.

Here's my version:

The hands-down winner of my Worst Person in the General Assembly award is State Sen. Chris Widener.

A Republican from the Springfield area, Widener is the senate's president pro tem, the body's second-most-powerful position. That speaks volumes about the judgment of Republicans who run the Senate, most notably Senate President Keith Faber.

Widener is 51. He's an architect, a former three-term member of the Ohio House and now in his second and final term as senator. And he's bad news.

For more than six years, the Dayton Daily News has reported on repeated instances of Widener walking an ethical tightrope. And two years ago, The Plain Dealer reported how Widener used his power to sponsor legislation that allowed a tourism agency to give more than $400,000 to a Clark County nonprofit he helped found. That story piqued the interest of law enforcement.

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Township end-runs open records in suspending controversial police chief

From The Akron Beacon Journal Brimfield Township Police Chief David Oliver, whose daily insights into small-town law enforcement have made him an Internet hit across the country, has been suspended for violating department policy.

No one from the township, not even the normally talkative chief, will disclose the nature of the violations that led to Oliver being notified of his two-week unpaid suspension, effective Tuesday.

“I’m not going to tell you,” township attorney Gregory Beck replied when asked why the chief was suspended. Beck later said the chief was disciplined for “gender discrimination issues related to an employee of the department.”

Beck would not identify the accuser by sex or job description. He said the township intentionally hired an outside attorney to conduct an internal investigation and to ensure confidentiality. The attorney, Jennifer Arnold of Alliance, then submitted an oral report to the township, thus eliminating any trail of public documents.

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ESPN lawsuit against Notre Dame similar to Ohio fight over college police records

From The Observer ESPN filed a lawsuit against Notre Dame earlier this month claiming the University’s refusal to release campus police records violates Indiana’s public records law, according to a report Wednesday in the South Bend Tribune.

The case, filed Jan. 15 in St. Joseph Superior Court, alleges that Notre Dame officials violated Indiana’s Access to Public Records Act when they refused to release Notre Dame Security Police (NDSP) records requested by ESPN reporter Paula Lavigne, the Tribune reported.

In September and November 2014, Lavigne formally requested police incident reports and logs related to Notre Dame student athletes but was turned down both times, according to the Tribune. She filed  complaints with Indiana Public Access Counselor Luke Britt in October and December, according to documents available on the Public Access Counselor website. Britt is an attorney appointed by the governor to advise on public access matters.

“As we have previously said, our practices are in full accord with the Access to Public Records Act and consistent with multiple advisory opinions that have addressed this matter over the past 12 years,” University spokesman Dennis Brown said in an email Wednesday afternoon. “We are confident that our position will be affirmed in court.”

ESPN submitted two written opinions by Britt as evidence in the lawsuit, the Tribune reported. Britt’s recent written opinions departed from that of previous public access counselors, who had written that professional police departments at Indiana private universities did not meet the definition of public agencies and so were exempt from the state’s public records law. Britt’s opinion is not compulsory and does not carry the force of law, but the superior court decision will.

Britt’s Oct. 31 opinion put Notre Dame on notice that his office considers NDSP a public law enforcement agency after ESPN and the South Bend Tribune filed complaints against the department.

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Editorial: Ohio justices should rein in officials who deny access to public records

Editorial from The Columbus Dispatch

In recent years, journalists and members of the public who have exercised their right to inspect government records frequently have found themselves rebuffed by bureaucrats claiming that the records requests are “overly broad.”

Faced with such refusals, those seeking the records have no recourse but to go to court to compel government to comply with the law. This is an expensive undertaking, especially thanks to the Ohio legislature, which has so reduced legal-fee awards and penalties for government officials who illegally withhold records that plaintiffs cannot recoup the expense of their lawsuit.

In the latest misuse of “overly broad,” a state agency is denying phone and email records that are supplied readily by other government offices. NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio has asked the court to order the Ohio Department of Health to turn over two years’ worth of emails exchanged with addresses ending in “ohiolife.org” and a year of phone records involving two phone numbers associated with Ohio Right to Life.

NARAL suspects the state agency is working with special-interest groups to carry out policies that block access to abortion in Ohio. The reason for any request is beside the point. The records belong to the public; government officials are merely the custodians of those records.

Even Ohio Right to Life President Michael Gonidakis says the department should provide the records, telling Gongwer News Service that he and his staff “have nothing to hide.”

The health-department officials’ excuses — the request is “overly broad” and the agency lacks the ability to search for specific emails and phone records — amount to “a silly argument,” said Subodh Chandra, NARAL’s attorney.

The “overly broad” excuse has been used expansively since the high court’s 2008 ruling on a case that pitted Columbus attorney Jeffrey Glasgow against two state representatives — Shannon Jones, now a state senator, and Josh Mandel, now Ohio treasurer. Glasgow sought all their emails, text messages and other written correspondence over a period of several months.

The high court declared that request “overbroad.”

Ever since, overly broad has become “the phrase du jour,” lawyer Tim Smith, chair of the Media Law Center for Ethics and Access at Kent State University, has said.

For instance, Ohio House Republicans in 2011 initially employed “overly broad” in trying to keep secret from The Dispatch records that revealed a cozy relationship between some legislators and David Brennan, a major charter-school operator and campaign donor .

That year, this newspaper also ran into a “very broad and non-specific” denial from the city of Bellefontaine when it asked for specific records about then-Police Chief Brad Kunze, who was criticized for his handling of a triple-murder case.

Making things even worse, the “overly broad” exception is joined by other inventive court exceptions and legislative actions — such as carving out “executive privilege” and “trade secrets” — that have chiseled away access to public records.

These laws and rulings make it easier for government officials to hide mismanagement and corruption.

With the current lawsuit, the Ohio Supreme Court should seize this opportunity to defend open government and redress “overly broad” denials of the public right to know.

OCOG's Winter 2015 issue of Open Government Report now available

The winter 2015 edition of the OCOG's Open Government Report is now available. The issue provides an analysis of the 130th General Assembly's efforts on issues of open government and transparency, examines the recently passed execution secrecy law, and also provides an overview of open government issues in Ohio. Click here to download the report as a PDF.

OCOG’s resources are limited – less than $65,000 at this writing. It operates based on this small amount of invested funds and pro bono staff and logistical support from the parent Ohio Newspapers Foundation.  A single legal battle easily can cost $5,000 or more, and protracted legal disputes are far more expensive.  The demand on OCOG’s funds, particularly to support litigation on open government issues, keeps growing.

With that in mind, please consider OCOG as part of your 2015 charitable giving. OCOG is a 501(c)3 organization that accepts tax-deductible contributions.

To donate, click here.

Ohio House to give more public notice before debating bills

From The Plain Dealer Ohioans who want to know what's up for debate in the Ohio House should be able find out a day in advance during the two-year legislative session that began last week.

Rules adopted by state representatives on Wednesday require the House to publicly release a list of bills scheduled for House floor debate 24 hours in advance. In the last General Assembly, that list sometimes wasn't released until just minutes before the floor session began.

The House shortened the rule requiring notice for when session and committees are held from five days to 24 hours -- committees rarely followed the five-day rule.

"It's been my goal from the beginning to encourage a more open government and a more streamlined and modern governmental process, and I'm looking forward to witnessing how these rules will work to ensure that," House Speaker Cliff Rosenberger, a Clarksville Republican, said in a statement.

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Justices can restore sanity by clarifying 'overly broad'

By Randy Ludlow, The Columbus Dispatch It’s gotten to the point that a Dispatch request for emails between two public employees over a three-month period is swatted away by bureaucrats as “ overly broad.”

Without commenting on motivations or the issue involved, the lawsuit filed by NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio Foundation against the Ohio Department of Health hands the Ohio Supreme Court a chance to restore some legal sanity to the state’s public records laws.

The health department refused to hand over two years of emails and records of phone calls over one year -- records which admittedly exist -- between agency officials and representatives of Ohio Right to Life. The agency argues the request is overly broad and, even if it wasn’t, it has no way to search for specific records.

In the wake of prior court rulings concerning “overly broad” records requests – public entities have broadly interpreted the justices’ opinions to increasingly deny records to the public, even when requests are fairly specific.

It seems, at times, that you must provide authors, subjects, dates and the name of the government lawyer’s dog to obtain emails and other documents. That defeats the main purpose of public records laws – to find out what government is up to without detailed insider knowledge.

In the lawsuit filed by Cleveland lawyer Subodh Chandra on NARAL’s behalf, he complained that the health department was demanding “excruciating precision” and requiring him to “ hyper identify” the emails and phone call records he was seeking. The health department declined to comment.

“But that thwarts the Public Records Act's fundamental purpose: nothing in the Act requires a requester to know a record actually exists before requesting it. Indeed, the existence of a record may be the very thing the requester is attempting to discover through the request,” he wrote.

“Once a requester has reasonably identified the requested records, the burden is on the public office to actually look for the records.”

Chandra also pointed to a 2006 ruling by the Ohio Supreme Court that seems to have been reduced to irrelevance by subsequent rulings on “overly broad” public records requests.

Ruling on what constitutes a valid records request, the court wrote that it never has held that "the requester must specify the author and date of the records requested. Although this may be helpful in identifying the requested records, the failure to do so does not automatically result in an improper request for public records …

“We do not require perfection in public-records requests."

Mandel wants to post local government spending online

From Gongwer State Treasurer Josh Mandel announced plans to expand the online database of the state's expenditures to local governments during his inaugural address Monday.

Mr. Mandel, who won reelection by defeating former Rep. Connie Pillich in November, touted his recent move to create "Ohio's Online Checkbook" and said he would work with local officials to expand it during his second term.

"I think the people of Ohio have a right to know how their tax money is being spent," he said.

"I'm going to start talking with city councilmen, and school board members and county commissioners and mayors and folks throughout the state of Ohio and I'm going to say to them, 'Listen, we'd like to do this for your local governments as well. We'd like to empower the taxpayers at the local level to hold the public officials accountable," he said.

Cuyahoga County Executive Armond Budish releases Ed FitzGerald's key-card records that were subject of public records fight with GOP

From The Plain Dealer Cuyahoga County Executive Armond Budish on Wednesday evening released records recording the dates and times when his predecessor, Ed FitzGerald, swiped his employee key card while on county premises during the last 18 months.

"In light of the fact that former Executive FitzGerald no longer uses County facilities on a regular basis, the Sheriff's Department has concluded that release of the information does not now pose the same security risks it did in 2014," Emily Lundgard, a county spokeswoman, said in an email.

After opting to run for governor rather than seek re-election, FitzGerald's last day in office was Dec. 31.

Last year, FitzGerald refused to release the records. County Sheriff Frank Bova, who reported to FitzGerald, said releasing the records could help establish a pattern of FitzGerald's whereabouts, which could put him in danger.

County spokesman Dennis Willard said it remains to be seen what impact the release of the records has on an ongoing public records lawsuit by the Ohio Republican Party before the Ohio Supreme Court. The GOP sued last July after FitzGerald, then a Democratic gubernatorial candidate, refused to provide the records to NEOMG.

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