The Kentucky State University Foundation last week submitted a response to the State Journal’s motion for summary judgment in the foundation’s open records appeal to the Franklin Circuit Court.
The foundation argues that its post-1992 “divorce” from Kentucky State University necessitates re-litigation of the open records issue resolved against it in a 1992 Kentucky Supreme Court case.
In 2021, the foundation appealed an Attorney General’s open records decision determining that it is a public agency for open records purposes based on the Supreme Court’s 1992 opinion in Frankfort Pub. v. Kentucky St. Un. Found, 834 S.W.2d 681 (Ky. 1992).
https://casetext.com/case/frankfort-pub-v-kentucky-st-un-found
The foundation had previously denied former State Journal reporter Austin Horn’s request for “copies of records related to payments made to a specific individual for a two-year period as well as ‘payments made for the purposes of parties celebrating [the specific individual’s] birthday[.]’” The referenced individual was former KSU president Christopher Brown. Horn also requested “any records or documentation reflecting payments of more than $1,500 made to any entity or individual[.]”
Horn — who is a Kentucky Open Government Coalition director and now a political reporter for the Lexington Herald-Leader — successfully appealed the denial to the Kentucky Attorney General.
https://ag.ky.gov/Resources/orom/2021/21-ORD-179.pdf
The thrust of the foundation’s argument is that KSU and the KSU Foundation made a conscious effort to “disaffiliate” after the 1992 Supreme Court opinion to ensure that the foundation would no longer be treated as a public agency for open records purposes and its records would no longer be inaccessible under the open records law.
This included physically distancing itself from KSU, reconfiguring it’s governing body, and executing new articles of incorporation and bylaws “to establish that it is not nor ever intended to be a public agency.”
The foundation argues that the State Journal is not entitled to summary judgment based on post-1992 changes in its organization and operations and post-1992 changes in the open records law.
The State Journal is represented in the ongoing appeal by Jeremy Rogers — also a Kentucky Open Government Coalition director and a partner in the Louisville office of Dinsmore & Shohl LLP. The newspaper is expected to file a reply brief early next week.
