Sneak attack on public records

A public agency that insures cities apparently has been intimidating those it insures to be less open with the public.

Last week, Seattle Times reporter Lynn Thompson wrote about the Washington Cities Insurance Authority's threat to terminate the city of Monroe's liability insurance. The city's crime? Its council members were trying to provide citizens with easier access to its public records, even waiving attorney-client privilege to release records their attorney agreed would not cause them legal problems. But now the city has backed off under WCIA's appallingly heavy-handed tactics — which is just the latest assault on the public's right to know.

In 1972, the Public Records Act acknowledged only 10 categories of information agencies could justify keeping from the public — things like personnel issues, real-estate transactions and discussions about litigation. The number of exemptions now exceeds 300.

Here's a reminder of the value Washington citizens place on access to public records, as enacted in the 1972 voter initiative:

"The people of this state do not yield their sovereignty to the agencies that serve them. The people, in delegating authority, do not give their public servants the right to decide what is good for the people to know and what is not good for them to know."

That value seems utterly lost on the WCIA, itself a public agency. Its board members are drawn from the cities that it insures — which as a group tends to look dimly on measures to promote open government.

The day after The Times' story ran, Rep. Brendan Williams, D-Olympia, introduced House Bill 3251, which would amend the law that created the WCIA. The proposal would prohibit the insurance pool from dictating public-records practices and cities from using insurance money to defend public-records violations.

Williams' quick response is laudable, and the Legislature should embrace this solution.

The people have spoken on the importance of open public records. An insurance pool should not get in their way.