Gov. Terry Branstads administration should be forced to immediately release dozens of documents that have been wrongly classified as having trade secrets, a motion filed Friday in Polk County District Court argues. The issue focuses on the administrations recent notification to developer Randy Danniel, informing him the group Progress Iowa had made a public records request with the state seeking information about a Lee County project. That project, initially envisioned to be an intermodal Mississippi River transportation port, is the subject of a civil lawsuit filed in March by 11 investors. The investors claim Danniel, of Iowa Logistics Development Co., took their money — roughly $1.2 million — and spent it on nonproject costs for his personal gain. Danniel tried to stop the release of state records through court action in August after the Iowa Economic Development Authority told him about the records request involving the project. Public records reviewed by The Des Moines Register do not indicate that taxpayer money was used to plan or invest in the project. But records show that Danniel sought public investments or input from government officials and asked that those discussions be held behind closed doors. Tina Hoffman, a spokeswoman for the development authority, said the state is not trying to hide its involvement from the public but instead alerted Danniel to allow him due process. Some records are exempt from the states open-records laws, particularly those considered trade secrets. Danniel has a right to make that argument in court prior to a release of records, Hoffman said. Fridays filing came from Progress Iowa, a liberal-leaning group based in Des Moines that often advocates for public information and education on a range of topics. A court order in October granted the groups attorney, Joseph Glazebrook, to review the documents but prohibited him from sharing them with his clients or others. Glazebrook this morning filed a motion saying he had reviewed roughly 100 pages of documents and that at least half of them cannot conceivable constitute confidential material amounting to trade secrets, noting that some of the documents outline simple logistics such as scheduling issues. Progress Iowa has previously said Iowa should enforce a balancing test referenced by law. That balancing act militates strongly in favor of disclosure because the publics right to know about the governments possible knowledge of or involvement in corruption strongly outweighs whatever abstract interest there may be in keeping the records secret, their court filings say. Today we continued the fight for open and transparent government, filing documents in court with the aim of shining a light on closed-door communication, and trying to understand why the Branstad administration wants state business blocked from public view, Matt Sinovic, executive director of Progress Iowa, said Friday. Mr. Danniel has acknowledged that he had been in contact with the IEDA and the governors office and we hope to learn what may have been communicated. A trial in the case seeking the full release of the records is set for Dec. 18. It is unknown how soon a ruling on todays motion to immediately release part of the records will be made.
Posted on: Sun, 26 Oct 2014 04:48:57 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015