Free the press releases

Partisan, taxpayer- funded public- relations workers produce hundreds of press releases each year touting the accomplishments of state legislators.

But you won't find the releases on the Legislature's Web site. They have officially disappeared. What you see is something like this:

"Election Year Notice: The information normally found via links through this page has been temporarily removed during the election season. The House Republican Caucus Newsroom will be restored at this site in December 2006."

The press releases were there June 30. But legislative rules deem July 1 too close to the election to allow incumbents to get any benefit from the material and mandate that it be removed from public view.

Press releases cover everything from honoring legislative pages to announcing passage of a bill. The 55 Democrats who control the House issued about 274 this year. The 43 Republicans issued about 375.

Two examples:

"Not long ago State Representative Zack Hudgins was discussing safety concerns with soldiers on the front lines in Iraq. This year he's addressing security concerns here on the home front."

And, "Expanding the use and development of alternative fuels in Washington could provide thousands of new jobs in the state while reducing reliance on foreign and domestic oil, Rep. Janéa Holmquist said today."

The ethics policy comes from a state law that says state officials, including legislators, can't "use or authorize the use of" any public resources for campaigning.

I understand the motive. But it seems sort of Soviet-like to have official publications disappear for half the year. Will we airbrush legislators out of official photographs, too? (No worry there. Legislators can buy reprints of "official" photographs that they are allowed to use in campaign brochures.)

If the material is partisan, political puffery, it shouldn't be done on my dime, even before June 30. If the press releases are of public value — and many of them are — they should be left up and legislators should be able to defend them.

These rules are an outgrowth of the early 1990s, when there was widespread illegal use of legislative staff and equipment for campaigning.

Rep. Toby Nixon, R-Kirkland, put legislative releases on his campaign Web site until a complaint was filed against him with the ethics board.

He said in a letter to the board that press releases help people judge lawmakers' performance.

"It could be argued that depriving voters and opponents of this valuable resource for evaluating the positions and actions of legislators is an inappropriate concealment of public records," Nixon wrote.

Nixon says he's issued about 100 releases since being sworn in four years ago.

Maybe it is time to rethink locking this information away.

David Postman is The Seattle Times' chief political reporter. His column appears Fridays.

Reach him at 360-236-8267 or at dpostman@seattletimes.com