Washington Supreme Court to agencies: Comply with open records act or pay more

THE good news for open-government advocates is that a majority of the Washington Supreme Court ruled when public agencies violate the right of the public to documents they are entitled to, the penalties should be large enough to deter future transgressions.

Yet, the court's historic ambivalence toward open-government issues was apparent again in Thursday's ruling in the case that stretches back to a request for King County documents relating to the 1997 ballot measure that led to Qwest Field.

No fewer than five different opinions — a majority, two concurrences, a concurrence-in-part and a dissent — were filed in Yousoufian v. Office of Ron Sims, on its third trip to the Supreme Court.

But for a change, this unruly stack of opinions tilts toward the important value of making public agencies take the public-records law seriously.

The court is sending the case back to trial court for a recalculation of penalties to be paid to Armen Yousoufian. This private citizen did not get all the documents he sought until 2001, well after the information could have enlightened voters about their decision.

The majority of justices ruled the trial court did not impose a high enough penalty on King County, which, Justice Richard Sanders said in his majority opinion, "repeatedly deceived and misinformed Yousoufian for years."

The upshot is this ruling sends a strong message to cities, counties, school districts, and other agencies that public records requests must be taken seriously.