Frontlines

McAllen EDC sues AG to keep Germany trip sealed

McALLEN — The city’s economic development corporation has filed a lawsuit against Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott to block the release of documents Abbot’s office deemed public information.

The suit, filed in a state district court in Travis County, focuses on a request The Monitor made to the McAllen Economic Development Corp. earlier this summer. Because state law prohibits the taxpayer-supported corporation from asking the attorney general to reconsider its ruling, officials filed the lawsuit to block the documents’ release. In June, The Monitor requested itineraries of MEDC staff members’ trips to Germany to woo an automaker to build a plant in McAllen.

AG: Court can withhold grand jury names

AUSTIN — Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott ruled that District Court Clerk Peggy Williams is not required to release the names of Schleicher County grand jurors, despite the fact that the jurors were impaneled during an open meeting of the 51st District Court in April, the Eldorado Success reported.

Abbott ruled that the clerk’s office compiled the list of jurors while it was acting as an agent of the judiciary branch of the government, making them exempt from release under the Texas Public Information Act.

Reporters for the Salt Lake Tribune and the Associated Press sought the names of grand jurors currently serving on the panel that has been hearing evidence into several cases related to the YFZ Ranch.

FOIFT rewards Wisconsin man’s work on Perry e-mails

AUSTIN — The Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas presented its 2008 James Madison Award to John Washburn, a software tester and citizen activist from Wisconsin who challenged the Texas governor’s policy of deleting e-mails after only seven days, the Austin American-Statesman reported.

The award honors people whose appreciation and respect for the First Amendment and open government have been demonstrated by exemplary actions, words or deeds.

Last year, Washburn began requesting e-mail records from Gov. Rick Perry’s office twice a week as a way to thwart the destruction of those public records.

Washburn also has offered advice to participants in the Sunshine Blogger Project, which resulted in the first survey of e-mail retention policies of governors’ offices in several states.

Arizona AG OKs Internet school board meetings

PHOENIX — Arizona’s attorney general declared that it would not violate state open-government laws for some school board meetings to be held online, the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press reported.

Camp Verde Unified School District Superintendent Jeff Van Handel sought an opinion from Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard on whether a computer program allowing Web users to watch in real time as school board officials revise public documents would fall within the scope of the law, The Arizona Republic reported.

Viewers and members of the public would be able to comment by e-mail.

This approach has not been widely used by state governments — The Republic reported that only Florida and Kansas have considered the viability of online government meetings. Missouri’s Sunshine Law was expanded in 2004 to include electronic records and online meetings.