BUSTED!
How did the county get nailed?
How did it come to light that the county was hiding records relating to the NASCAR racetrack proposal? Apparently, the county has squirrelled away racetrack related records by handing them over to the Kitsap Regional Economic Development Council (KREDC), agent for the International Speedway Corporation (ISC), in order to keep them out of public hands.
In early May, after reading news reports of private meetings and secrecy agreements between county commissioners and racetrack officials, I asked the county for all county records relating to a proposed NASCAR racetrack. Two weeks ago, I picked up (for $67.05) 447 pages of documents, including secrecy agreements signed by thirteen county officials and employees. Each pledged to the KREDC not to disclose "confidential" information relating to ISC's racetrack proposal.
Before paying for the records, I checked to see if they included a report issued in May 2004, the "Green Flag" report [7.16MB], which was kept secret for a year, before it was "outed" by unnamed citizens in May and posted on the Internet. Because the report's cover letter was signed by the then-Chair of the Board of Commissioners, Patty Lent, the "Green Flag report qualified as a county record and thus should have been included in the disclosed records. It wasn't.
I showed staff my copy, which I'd printed off the Internet, and suggested that a copy should have been included in the records provided by the county. I was asked why I needed a copy, since I already had one. I explained that the chair of the KREDC Board of Directors (Lary Coppola) had suggested, in his June Kitsap Business Journal column, that the "outed" report may have been altered in order to "smear our elected officials." Therefore, I couldn't be sure that the copy I had was complete and accurate, so I needed a copy of the original.
Eventually, apparently after consulting with the prosecutor's office, staff agreed by phone, on June 24, to seek a copy from the KREDC. I followed up immediately with an email, pointing out additional records that weren't provided in the disclosure and requested copies of them, too.
I believe that the 6/24 phone and email requests led to the "discovery" that the county had been hiding racetrack related records and resulted in the call to the attorney general.
I haven't yet received the records I requested in my follow-up. The race goes on.
How did the county get nailed?
How did it come to light that the county was hiding records relating to the NASCAR racetrack proposal? Apparently, the county has squirrelled away racetrack related records by handing them over to the Kitsap Regional Economic Development Council (KREDC), agent for the International Speedway Corporation (ISC), in order to keep them out of public hands.
In early May, after reading news reports of private meetings and secrecy agreements between county commissioners and racetrack officials, I asked the county for all county records relating to a proposed NASCAR racetrack. Two weeks ago, I picked up (for $67.05) 447 pages of documents, including secrecy agreements signed by thirteen county officials and employees. Each pledged to the KREDC not to disclose "confidential" information relating to ISC's racetrack proposal.
Before paying for the records, I checked to see if they included a report issued in May 2004, the "Green Flag" report [7.16MB], which was kept secret for a year, before it was "outed" by unnamed citizens in May and posted on the Internet. Because the report's cover letter was signed by the then-Chair of the Board of Commissioners, Patty Lent, the "Green Flag report qualified as a county record and thus should have been included in the disclosed records. It wasn't.
I showed staff my copy, which I'd printed off the Internet, and suggested that a copy should have been included in the records provided by the county. I was asked why I needed a copy, since I already had one. I explained that the chair of the KREDC Board of Directors (Lary Coppola) had suggested, in his June Kitsap Business Journal column, that the "outed" report may have been altered in order to "smear our elected officials." Therefore, I couldn't be sure that the copy I had was complete and accurate, so I needed a copy of the original.
Eventually, apparently after consulting with the prosecutor's office, staff agreed by phone, on June 24, to seek a copy from the KREDC. I followed up immediately with an email, pointing out additional records that weren't provided in the disclosure and requested copies of them, too.
I believe that the 6/24 phone and email requests led to the "discovery" that the county had been hiding racetrack related records and resulted in the call to the attorney general.
I haven't yet received the records I requested in my follow-up. The race goes on.
posted by Charlie Burrow | 6:50 AM
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