These are the final official remarks from Oregon Public Records Advocate Ginger McCall as she leaves the position she assumed at the invitation of Oregon's governor 18 months ago but was unable to fulfill in a principled manner due to attempted influence exerted by members of the governor's staff.

https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/bluemountaineagle.com/cont…

Reflecting on the "promise of public records requests," McCall writes:

"Public records requests can launch effective campaigns to change law and policy. Public records requests can lead to congressional hearings. And public records requests can lead to accountability for even the most powerful elected officials.

"We are taught in civics class that it is important to participate in our democracy. We are encouraged to vote - to make choices about ballot referendums, elected officials, and pieces of proposed legislation. But the truth is that citizens cannot engage meaningfully with government or make educated choices about their democracy if they do not know what their government is doing. And public records are key to gaining that knowledge.

"Public records are often also essential for members of the public to vindicate their own rights. Public records tell the story of some of the most difficult events in a person's life: the death of a child in a state-supervised childcare setting, abuse perpetrated by a teacher, a crime committed against an individual. Public records allow members of the public to more fully understand their own stories in order to begin the process of recovery.

"The great majority of government records officers believe in the importance of public records law and work hard every day to fulfill the law's mandates. But unfortunately public records requests are still sometimes stymied by high fees, inadequate government resources and staffing, lack of leadership buy-in, and the asymmetry of resources between citizens who seek information and the government bodies who deny it."

McCall argues for changes in Oregon's public records law in her 11 page final report. She focuses on prohibitive fees for copies, mechanisms for legal challenges of public officials' denials of records requests other than challenges in the courts, and the independence of the Oregon Public Records Advocate.

We are fortunate in Kentucky. Our open records law already addresses two of the issues McCall raises.

Our law places caps on fees for copies that limit agency recovery to actual costs, *not* including staff costs. This is not to say that the issue of excessive copying fees never arises, but it is rarely presented and summarily dispensed with based on a strong body of law.

Our law establishes a mechanism for administrative appeal to the Kentucky Attorney General, with a reasonably quick turnaround, that relieves the courts of at least some of the burden and the public of virtually all costs. At its best, this mechanism yields objective, well-reasoned, expeditious, and fair results based on the wisdom, knowledge, and experience of the OAG's open records merit staff.

Following a shaky start, the current Attorney General has permitted that process to flourish. Any mistakes made are the result of human error and not politicization.

If there is any lesson to be learned from McCall's experience, it is that resolution of public records access disputes must remain in the hands of those who are qualified by experience and knowledge to make those calls, free from political influence and the uninformed and self-serving intrusion of middle managers, who, like the Oregon Governor's staff, are more intent on advancing the interest of the public official they serve, than they are on preserving the law and ensuring the public's right to know.

The Kentucky Open Government Coalition applauds Ginger McCall's courage and wishes her well as she enters the next phase of an already remarkable career.