Free Training & Panel: Public Records 101

Are you curious about public disclosure requests? Intrigued by how exactly journalists uncovered how Mayor Durkan’s top staffers used private email accounts to talk head-tax strategy? How, although redacted, public records revealed how the Tacoma Police Department bought and quietly used controversial surveillance equipment? Did you know that not all public disclosure requests have to be in writing? Or that they can be submitted to any public employee?

At a free training and panel conversation on April 25 at The Summit on Capitol Hill, you can find out. Join this nonpartisan event to understand the laws surrounding public disclosure requests, learn how to best utilize the law, sharpen the language of your public disclosure request and learn from experts in the fields, including journalists, organizers, open government advocates and lawyers.This event welcomes seasoned PDR-requesters, complete novices and everyone in-between.

During the event, a short introduction will enlighten attendees to the laws surrounding Public Disclosures in Washington State and include some hands-on examples as well as some tips and tricks. The presentation, lead by Toby Nixon (president of Washington Coalition for Open Government), will be followed by a panel conversation, lead by journalist Ashley Archibald. The panel features journalists Kevin Schofield and Neal McNamara, attorney Harry Williams, and immigration advocate and citizen lobbyist Alycia Ramirez. All of their bios can be found below. Additional panelists may be included.

The training portion of this event will walk attendees through the main elements of PDRing a government agency: how to describe the records you are seeking, how to identify the government agency that holds them and how to target those records in a request to the agency.

This event is the first part of a training series. We intend to do a follow-up event in which attendees will write and submit their requests.

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More information about Public Records:

Washington state’s Public Records Act has been utilized to extract scores of inaccessible documentation, privileged materials, and private communications since having been approved by voters in 1972.

Examples of their reach include the public disclosure requests that exposed Ferguson’s racist cops (resulting in several firings). PDRs uncovered the true nature of Flint’s toxic water crisis. They were the impetus for class action.

Here in Washington, public records revealed how the Tacoma Police Department bought and quietly used controversial surveillance equipment. Last year, a petitioner brought a case against Kitsap County concerning bad-faith policing & abuse of discretion with the return of inadequate records requests.

Together, we can learn the law surrounding public disclosure requests, how to best utilize the law, and how to work against any future restrictions from the halls of power.

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About the panelists and speakers

Neal McNamara is editor of the Patch local news sites in the Seattle area. He has been a news reporter for close to 15 years at multiple newspapers across the U.S. and has dealt with PDR issues in the states of Michigan, Connecticut, and Indiana. Recently, Patch has looked at the city of Seattle’s use of records installments in fulfilling requests, and how that approach can hinder the newsgathering process.

Kevin Schofield is a freelance writer and the founder of Seattle City Council Insight, a website providing independent news and analysis of the Seattle City Council. He specializes in “wordy and nerdy” reporting on the City of Seattle’s legislative process through careful reads of legislation, research results and studies, PDR results, court filings, and other documentation.

Harry Williams is an attorney who has worked as a public defender and staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union and the Texas Fair Defense Project. His practice focuses on civil rights and police misconduct. He has litigated PRA cases in trial courts and the courts of appeal under the Washington State Public Records Act.

Alycia Ramirez is an immigration advocate and citizen lobbyist who focuses on lobbying local and state leadership to support progressive policies that benefit marginalized and minority communities, and one of the co organizers of the community activist group, North Seattle Progressives.

Toby Nixon is the President of Washington Coalition for Open Government, a statewide non-profit organization dedicated to defending and extending the public’s right to know what their government is doing. The WCOG is an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that works through the courts and the Legislature to defend and strengthen Washington’s open government laws. The coalition counts members who are citizen activists, government officials, and representatives of business, labor, media, law, and public policy organizations.

About the moderator

Ashley Archibald is a local journalist at Real Change, a nonprofit outlet that focuses its coverage on issues that impact low income and marginalized communities. Her past life involved stints at daily newspapers in the Californian communities of Santa Monica and Sonora, as well as higher education in journalism and economic geography. She moved to Seattle because she doesn’t do well in the sun.