Court Again Rules to Release Public Records

[Bridget Conant]

In yet another victory for the public's right to know, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled today that public records must be released!

A citizen requested law enforcement reports regarding former County Exec Ed Fitzgerald, which the Sheriff's Office attempted to withhold, claiming they were "security records" and exempt from disclosure. After reviewing the records, the judges ruled they were, in fact, public records subject to Ohio law. These records will now be available to the public.

http://www.courtnewsohio.gov/cases/2017 ... O4qUrX3aEc

IMO, these will be interesting to see. The more officials fight to keep records from public view, the more likely they are to contain information that is damaging to officials.

The fight to get Lakewood to release public records has the courts on the side of those who demand transparent government!

[Michael Deneen]

It's important to remember that "Team Summers" actually began as "Team Fitzy".
Fitzy, Summers, Bullock, and Company took power ten years ago on a campaign laced with racism and bigotry.....they've governed the exact same way.

Due to Fitzy's insanely horrendous gubernatorial run, "Team Summers" is embarrassed to be publicly associated with Fitzy.
However, he is still very much part of the group behind the scenes.

[Kate McCarthy]

If the records attached to the ruling were the only record releases contested, I can't understand why the releases were ever contested. Am I missing something?

[Bridget Conant]

Kate

These records requested by a citizen tied into the narrative Fitzgerald used to avoid releasing his garage keycard info. If you recall, the PD and the Ohio Republican Party asked for Fitz's garage use info to look at his comings and goings and driving information. One of the excuses he used as to why that info should be kept confidential, and therefore why those records could not be released to the public, was that he had received death threats. The details of his coming and goings would put him at risk of harm, according to him.

Most of the records in this immediate case involve reports that he or his staff made regarding "threats." These would potentially justify his fighting the garage key card requests. As you see from the records they did release, the reports involve seemingly unstable callers who disparaged him, of which he apparently thought was a direct threat.

Again, he needed to keep the idea alive that he was subject to numerous death threats and that was why his other records needed to be kept from the public.

[Kate McCarthy]

Thanks for the clarification. So he hides one set of records where the justification for which can only be found in another set of records that also cannot be released.

What an exhausting way to live one's life.

[Jim O'Bryan]

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[Lori Allen _]

A city being sued for not releasing records, and we get no media coverage, except an article in the Cleveland Scene (kudos to them).

The evident ability of Summers and/or City Hall to keep the media quiet extends far beyond the hospital. For example, very seldom do you see coverage of infamous crimes in Lakewood, except an occasional small blurb in the Sun Post. I won't mention other City Hall issues the media has been keeping quiet, but I think those of us that use our heads and pay attention know what those issues are. Most of these issues would be major headlines if they involved other cities.

Speaking of burning records, perhaps Summers wants all records burned, as the paper shredders were using too much electricity!