The Scoop

Mark Chellgren of the Associated Press reported on an investigation led by the Kentucky Press Association and the Associated Press into “whether public offices are allowing citizens to view government documents.” The investigation “showed most are obeying the state’s Open Records Act, but compliance is not uniform.” The results were mixed, varying from a smile for a city budget request to intimidation when requesting a list of current inmates at the Motgomery County Jail. Also included is a list of participants in the investigation, as well as a section on how the investigation was done. Jim Hannah of The Kentucky Enquirer, Gregory A. Hall of The Courier-Journal, Herb Brock of The Advocate-Messenger and Bill Estep and Lee Mueller, both of the Lexington Herald-Leader, followed up the AP story with their conclusions to the investigation. They found that cities responded the best to public record requests, while jailers were the worst. “Kentucky turned down requests to see a list of inmates seven out of 10 times, the Oct. 21 audit showed.”