Start Videotaping Your Local Government

They know gondamned well that Kentucky state law and the U.S. constitution mandate that public business be conducted in public, but they also know that most people don't know the law and can be intimidated into backing off.

Don't let your local officials get away with it.

Katie Brandenburg at the Ashland Daily Independent:

The Kentucky attorney general has issued a decision that a resolution adopted by the Carter County Fiscal Court violates state open meetings law and calls the resolution “unenforceable and inimical to the public good.”

The decision was issued on Thursday and addresses a fiscal court resolution, effective as of Sept. 1, restricting cameras and video recording of fiscal court meetings to the last pew of the fiscal court room.

The decision finds that “The Carter County Fiscal Court cannot, by ordinance, executive order, or resolution, abridge the statutorily invested right to videotape public meetings.”

Members of the Carter County Fiscal Court approved the resolution at an Aug. 9 meeting after asking Mignon Colley, Carter County Republican chairwoman, to move her video camera.

Colley issued a complaint to Carter County Judge-Executive Charles Wallace on Aug. 12, according to the attorney general’s decision. In it, she states that the resolution prevented her both from having a clear view of the court and picking up audio of proceedings.

In that complaint, Colley said it was impossible to record fiscal court discussions from the designated area, which is about 25 feet away.

She also emphasized that her camera is about the size of her hand and is mounted on a tripod that doesn’t obstruct the public’s view of proceedings or otherwise interfere with the meeting, according to the attorney general’s decision.

The decision also states that the fiscal court didn’t respond to Colley’s written complaint within the three business days it had to do so, which is also considered a violation of open meetings law.

Colley appealed to the office of Attorney General Jack Conway on Aug. 19 after receiving no response from the fiscal court, according to the decision. The attorney general’s office then issued a notification of the appeal to Wallace along with a copy of the contents of the appeal.

The fiscal court chose not to respond, according to the decision.

Colley said she originally began recording fiscal court meetings after an instance in June when she said the fiscal court went into an executive session without giving the general nature of the business to be discussed, something which is required under Kentucky’s open records and meetings law.

“At least with my video tapes, these people in Carter County can see what’s going on,” she said.

Colley said she was pleased with the attorney general’s decision.

“I think it was a right decision on the attorney general’s part to not allow them to infringe on anyone’s rights,” Colley said.

When contacted on Friday evening about the decision, Wallace said he didn’t know anything about the complaint. He also said that a decision from the attorney general was “just an opinion.”

According to the Kentucky attorney general’s website, the attorney general “issues legally binding decisions in disputes under the open records and meetings laws.”

Wallace referred comment on the decision to County Attorney Patrick Flannery. Flannery was not immediately available for comment.

The attorney general’s decision can be appealed in circuit court.

Before anybody starts cheering for Colley, let me just say that if the Carter County Fiscal Court majority were republican, Colley would probably be chasing Democratic Party videotapers out of the courtroom herself.

But through gritted teeth I will give Colley kudos for standing up to political intimidation, and possibly worse. County executives are not above using sheriff's deputies to enforce their tyranny.