Open Government

ESPC backs effort to keep public records open

Asks court to consider public interests in dispute between Governor and Cheyenne newspaper

In the midst of a court fight with the Cheyenne newspaper over when and if the public gets to see budget-cutting advice he gets from his agency directors, Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal has requested that the Wyoming Supreme Court create a new legal doctrine that will undermine the public’s ability to access public records.

The governor wants the court to recognize “deliberative privilege,” a legal doctrine that would allow him to keep that advice secret. The public would not see the thinking of department directors unless the governor chose to release their advisory memos once he had made a final decision in critical public matters.

The ESPC believes the deliberative process privilege flies in the face of strong public policy in favor of disclosure and openness. It also is contrary to legal principles of discovery and undercuts the search for the truth both in court and in public policy forums.

The threat to Wyoming’s Public Records Act, which for decades has enabled Wyoming citizens to see such records, prompted the Equality State Policy Center to join the Wyoming Education Association and the Wyoming Trial Lawyers Association in filing a “friend of the court” brief in the case.

Read our joint news release here. The motion asking the court to allow the ESPC, WEA and WTLA to file the brief and the brief itself can be found here.

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