Local legislators 'have nothing to hide'
Responding to criticisms that the state legislature tried to exempt itself from public records laws a month ago in order to better keep secrets, Rep. Matt Manweller, R-Ellensburg, handed over his work computer to the Columbia Basin Herald for four days last week.
After a court decision January found that legislators had for decades incorrectly operated under the assumption that public records laws did not apply to them, lawmakers overwhelmingly passed a bill February that would have exempted themselves from the Public Records Act.
Citizens and media groups said the move was made to keep the public from seeing potentially compromising correspondence with lobbyists. Gov. Jay Inslee’s office was flooded with hundreds of phone calls and emails requesting he veto the measure, which he ultimately did. Lawmakers can continue to withhold records due to the state Supreme Court’s stay on January’s ruling until the high court makes a final decision.
Manweller allowed the Herald full access of his laptop in order to show he had nothing to hide, he said, and provided access to his work emails, which would be considered a public record according to the January ruling.
“There’s been this misconception in the media that we had something to hide,” Manweller said. “We want to be as transparent as humanly possible. We don’t really have anything to hide.”
The Herald found nothing of note on Manweller’s computer. Manweller did not provide every document that would be considered public record under the disputed law, including copies of his work texts or discussion of an incident where a legislative staffer said Manweller’s behavior toward her made her uncomfortable. Manweller has said the incident was a misunderstanding involving handing the staffer her coat.
Contrary to the secrecy narrative, Manweller said that lawmakers voted in favor of the public records exemption out of concern for the privacy of correspondence with constituents that might be sensitive or private. Constituents regularly reach out to talk about how public policy affects parts of their lives, such as an illness, that they would not want to be public, Manweller said.
Sen. Judy Warnick, R-Moses Lake, said in an interview with the Columbia Basin Herald that this was her primary concern when she voted in favor of the exemption.
“I have no problem sitting down with media outlets and looking at my calendar to show who I talk to on any given day.” Warnick said. “I did not want to be in the position that our constituents that come to us confidentially, that their private information would be released,”
The court decision earlier this year would put legislators on an equal footing with local and city governments and their officials, which use preexisting public records exemptions to withhold information that is of no public interest, but Warnick said that January’s court decision classified each individual lawmaker as a separate state agency. This wouldn’t allow lawmakers to use their legislative staffers to manage their public records, forcing each legislator to spend upwards of 30 hours per week complying with records laws, Warnick said.
“I understand the current system, especially for our counties or our cities or any public entity, I understand the difficulty in protecting any information that needs to be protected,” Warnick said. “But I would have to do that myself, which I felt was unworkable.”
Representative Tom Dent, R-Moses Lake, similarly expressed concern with the amount of time that he would need to spend managing his records.
“I couldn’t use my own staff to manage my records, because they’re employees of the legislature, not of Tom Dent,” Dent said.
The argument has repeatedly been made in recent weeks that January’s court decision would force lawmakers to manage their own records, essentially crippling the legislature’s ability to do their jobs, but existing statute appears to explicitly allow for a public records officer to be brought in from outside state agencies, which would include a legislator’s staff.
However, legislators have been advised by their legal counsel that they would be personally responsible for managing their records, Dent said.
There was no dissenting debate that might have cleared up misconceptions before the bill passed through both legislative chambers. Rep. Melanie Stambaugh, R-Puyallup, who has declared she will not run for reelection, told reporters that House leadership had instructed her not to voice her dissent to the public records exemption during floor debate.
Neither Dent, Manweller nor Warnick was aware that dissent was being repressed by leadership, lawmakers said.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to clarify that no complaint was lodged nor disciplinary action taken against Manweller regarding the staffer who felt uncomfortable.