"Remind [elected officials] how much you care about government transparency," Tom Miller emphasized in his State of the First Amendment address hosted by the University of Kentucky College of Communication and Information on Wednesday, November 17.

Miller was joined by co-counsel, Elizabeth Woodward.

Miller and Woodward are the Lexington attorneys who represented The Kernel in its five year legal battle with the University of Kentucky for access to nonexempt public records relating to the University's handling of complaints of sexual assault leveled against a tenured professor.

Woodward noted "that cases such as the one between the Kernel and the University of Kentucky can result in changes in the ORA" — most, we would add, aimed at depriving the public of existing legal rights and therefore largely unwelcomed. She referenced new laws that took effect this year increasing the statutory deadline for public agency response to records requests and limiting the use of Kentucky's open records law to residents.

As the 2022 legislative session approaches, the Kentucky Open Government Coalition joins Miller and Woodward in urging Kentuckians to let their lawmakers know "how much they care about government transparency" and the forty-five year old laws preserving their right to know.