Actions have consequences.

A lawyer and top advisor to Oregon Governor Kate Brown — who was tapped for judicial appointment to the Oregon Court of Appeals by Brown — has declined the appointment in the wake of mounting charges that he exerted improper influence on the state's first public records advocate to secretly advance the governor's anti-open government agenda.

Resigning Oregon Public Records Advocate, Ginger McCall, identified numerous instances in which Brown's legal advisor, Misha Isaak, attempted to "urge" McCall to quietly take actions aimed at undermining proposed public records legislative reform while acting in the role of a purportedly independent public records advocate.

McCall provided documentation verifying these communications.

The Salem Reporter summarized McCall's resignation statement:

"Oregonians need to trust that the public records advocate will be objective in responding to their requests for help in dealing with government agencies, including in state government."

The Kentucky Attorney General's role is not strictly that of advocate for open government laws. In the proper discharge of his statutory duties, he acts as an independent and apolitical arbiter of disputes arising under our open government laws. Those laws, the courts have declared, exhibit a "bias favoring disclosure."

Kentuckians need to trust that the attorney general will be objective in responding to their requests for review of public agency actions they believe violate or subvert our open government laws and that he will afford the open records/meeting staff sufficient latitude to ethically discharge their public duties.

The stakes in Kentucky are as great as the stakes in Oregon.