A Kentucky state agency that tangled with a weekly newspaper over secrecy of child-abuse records after the death of a local child has been named the "winner" of one of three "Black Hole Awards" by the Society of Professional Journalists. It's part of Sunshine Week, the annual observance to promote open government.
Amy Dye, 9, left, was killed by her adoptive brother in a family where abuse had been reported. The local Todd County Standard and others wanted to know what the state Cabinet for Health and Family Services "had done – or not done – to monitor reports of suspected abuse it received, and sought its records regarding Amy," SPJ reports. "The cabinet stonewalled, first denying it had such records, then classifying its records as a ‘neglect’ probe rather than a ‘fatality’ probe, which under Kentucky's open records law must be made public. Subsequent lawsuits by editor-publisher Ryan Craig and others finally obtained release of some of the relevant documents, which were heavily redacted."
The cabinet continued to delay and resist disclosure. A judge levied a $16,000 fine, "believed to be the first against a state agency under the Open Records Act" since it was passed in 1976, and granted the newspapers $57,000 in legal fees. "Toward the end of this, the secretary of the CHFS resigned," SPJ reports.
The other winners of Black Hole Awards were the legislatures in Georgia and Wisconsin. The Georgia body passed a law allowing "tax credits to support scholarships at private schools without tracking which schools or students get funding or disclosing publicly anything about how the state money is spent by private organizations," SPJ reports. "After the amendments in 2011, the law makes it a criminal offense to disclose virtually any meaningful information about the program to the public. Georgia’s law fails to hold anyone accountable for how they divert or spend tax funds. It does not track who is receiving scholarships under the program."
"The Wisconsin state legislature ignored the state's open meetings law in hastily passing a collective bargaining bill in March 2011, then successfully urged the state supreme court to exempt it from this law," SPJ reports. "Additionally, tasked with redrawing voter boundaries based on the 2010 Census, the legislature's Republican leadership hammered out new maps behind closed doors, even having their members sign secrecy agreements." The legislature "also passed a law barring even police from knowing who may be carrying concealed weapons. And while opening the state capitol to these weapons, it cracked down on the use of cameras by citizens in the State Assembly." (Read more)
The cabinet continued to delay and resist disclosure. A judge levied a $16,000 fine, "believed to be the first against a state agency under the Open Records Act" since it was passed in 1976, and granted the newspapers $57,000 in legal fees. "Toward the end of this, the secretary of the CHFS resigned," SPJ reports.
The other winners of Black Hole Awards were the legislatures in Georgia and Wisconsin. The Georgia body passed a law allowing "tax credits to support scholarships at private schools without tracking which schools or students get funding or disclosing publicly anything about how the state money is spent by private organizations," SPJ reports. "After the amendments in 2011, the law makes it a criminal offense to disclose virtually any meaningful information about the program to the public. Georgia’s law fails to hold anyone accountable for how they divert or spend tax funds. It does not track who is receiving scholarships under the program."
"The Wisconsin state legislature ignored the state's open meetings law in hastily passing a collective bargaining bill in March 2011, then successfully urged the state supreme court to exempt it from this law," SPJ reports. "Additionally, tasked with redrawing voter boundaries based on the 2010 Census, the legislature's Republican leadership hammered out new maps behind closed doors, even having their members sign secrecy agreements." The legislature "also passed a law barring even police from knowing who may be carrying concealed weapons. And while opening the state capitol to these weapons, it cracked down on the use of cameras by citizens in the State Assembly." (Read more)
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