Author: mncogi

Open Meetings

~ mncogi

We have detected a movement among some of Minnesota’s elected bodies—school boards, county boards, and city councils—to halt the broadcasting of public comment periods held during their open meetings. In these situations, government entities selectively broadcast only a portion of their meetings, while those segments reserved for public comment are excluded from broadcast. 

We don’t think that’s good enough for a functioning democracy. No matter where a member of the public views a meeting from—in the city council chambers, or on a home laptop—everyone should be able to see the same meeting content. If a public body chooses to broadcast its open meetings, then it should broadcast the entire meeting—including any public comment period that is included.

Currently, broadcasting open meetings is discretionary, unless pandemic-era meeting rules are in effect. In 2023, we proposed legislation that would require elected bodies to broadcast their open meetings in non-pandemic situations, too. The proposal would also require that public comments periods—if held—be held during open meetings, so that they could be broadcast along with all other meeting content. MNCOGI got substantial public support from editorial boards at the Star Tribune and other newspapers for that stance.

Our efforts didn’t get anywhere in 2023. As is common during budgeting years, measures like this often get delayed until the following year’s “policy” session. It is our intention to vigorously pursue this matter in 2024.

Minneapolis Police Lawsuit

~ mncogi

MNCOGI is suing the city of Minneapolis and various city officials to wrest free information about their “coaching” of Minneapolis police officers for policy violations.

The issue was brought violently to the fore by the murder of George Floyd. After that traumatic event, the public learned that ex-Officer Derek Chauvin had previously used the same knee-on-neck technique and that more than 20 complaints had been filed against him over the course of his Minneapolis police career. But little was known—or is known—about the substance of complaints.

Under Minnesota’s Data Practices Act, the results of an investigation of complaints or charges against public employees only become public if the employee is disciplined and the discipline becomes final. If an employee is not disciplined, the public never gets to see the details of the matter and can only learn that a complaint or charge was made against the employee and how that complaint or charge was resolved.  

In MNCOGI v. City of Minneapolis, et. al., we argue that the City of Minneapolis has failed to produce public records relating to the use of “coaching” as a police disciplinary action. Documented coaching of policy violations is indistinguishable from written warnings, which Civil Service Commission Rules identify as a form of police discipline. We contend the city should not be allowed to use semantics to shroud officer misconduct.

The suit is ongoing. Most recently, the judge in the case ordered the discovery process to proceed. That has generated some important answers from the city to our questions but others remain unanswered and the case continues. Stay tuned.

Office of the Legislative Auditor

~ mncogi

We remain concerned about the outcome—the Office of the Legislative Auditor (OLA) convinced lawmakers to reclassify a great deal of its investigative data that previously had been public. But MNCOGI helped blunt the initiative’s worst effects.

Citing concerns that it frequently receives spurious or politically motivated complaints about people and nonprofits, the Legislative Auditor proposed to withhold information about virtually anything they do, so long as a final report on the matter never gets issued.

In MNCOGI’s view, that would result in an untenable situation in which neither journalists nor interested citizens would be able to “audit to the auditors,” by reviewing documentation on complaints that the office never pursued. MNCOGI staunchly opposed that outcome.

In direct negotiations with the OLA and by working with key legislators and other key advocates, MNCOGI convinced the Legislature to more narrowly tailor the OLA’s request, keeping secret only identifying information about the individuals or nonprofits that are the subject of unreviewed allegations.

We don’t regard this as a complete victory, but we do feel we successfully kept open an important window into the highly important behind-the-scenes work of the OLA.

Marijuana legalization bill

~ mncogi

In 2023, MNCOGI was at the center of legislative negotiations over how transparently the new agency that regulates how legal marijuana will operate.

For instance, as originally drafted, the legalization bill contained broad carve-outs for all closed investigative data related to past marijuana prosecutions. Also as initially proposed, it would have treated marijuana regulation and licensing more privately and secretively than has been the case for liquor-license holders.

With big help from unpaid citizen lobbyist Rich Neumeister and groups like the Minnesota Newspaper Association and the Minnesota Broadcasters Association, MNCOGI successfully helped steer the legislation toward accountability and preserving the public’s right to know.

Freedom of Information Awards 2023

~ mncogi

Freedom of Information Awards. This year, MCGOI awarded Elder Voice Family Advocates the 2023 Finnegan Freedom Information Award. Librarian Helen Burke, a former MNCOGI chair, won the 2023 John Borger Lifetime Achievement Award.

From left: Nancy Haugen, MNCOGI Chair Kevin Featherly, Jean Peters, Kay Bromelkamp, Misti Okerlund, and Anne Sterner.

Finnegan Award

Elder Voice Family Advocates is a nonprofit that advocates for senior citizens, assisting seniors and their families to monitor care quality in the state’s nursing homes, memory care centers and numerous other related facilities.

The group won the Finnegan award for working with the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) to create an online database, “Elder Care IQ,” that allows users to easily search for facilities’ care-quality track records and any history of abuse, neglect or exploitation. Database users can search for facilities by zip code, then examine MDH complaint data, state inspection survey forms and related correspondence.

The project is a positive example of how the Data Practices Act can be utilized to provide critical information to the public. As a side note, MNCOGI wishes to highlight MDH’s vital role in helping to transfer its data to the Elder Care IQ project, free of charge.

From left: Matt Ehling, Kevin Featherly, Helen Burke, and Hal Davis.

Borger Award

Helen Burke spent her professional career in the Minneapolis Public Library and Hennepin County Library System government records departments. She spent two decades serving on the Minnesota Library Association’s Government Documents Roundtable, and twice served as its chair.

Helen served on the Minnesota Library Association’s Committee for Intellectual Freedom from 2004-2014. She also served on MNCOGI’s board for over two decades and was its chair for half of that time, helping transform MNCOGI from a library-focused organization to a broader coalition of open-record advocates engaged in public education and policy development.

MNCOGI’s awards are named for John R Finnegan, the former Pioneer Press editor who advocated for the establishment of the Minnesota Data Practices Act; and John Borger, a Minnesota lawyer who was one of the nation’s foremost First Amendment attorneys.

A ceremony presenting both awards was held Minnesota State Capitol’s Cass Gilbert Library on James Madison’s birthday, March 16, 2023, the United States’ traditional Freedom of Information Day.

2022 FOI Awards Announcement

~ mncogi

The Minnesota Coalition on Government Information (MNCOGI) 2022 Freedom of Information awards honor:

  • Brandon Stahl, A. J. Lagoe, Gary Knox & Steve Eckert for KARE 11 Investigates –“The Gap: Failure to Treat, Failure to Protect” ;
  • Leita Walker for coordinating a media coalition whose advocacy resulted in Minnesota’s first live-streamed criminal trial; and
  • James Barnum for his tireless devotion to and pursuit of keeping government records public for over three decades

The public is invited to a virtual award ceremony featuring a discussion with the recipients.

MNCOGI is pleased to announce recipients of this year’s John R. Finnegan Freedom of Information Award: 

Brandon Stahl, A. J. Lagoe, Gary Knox and Steve Eckert devoted eight months to studying how lapses in mental health services played a role in a mass shooting and bombing in rural Minnesota. Their interviews, data collection and analysis resulted in the October 2021 broadcast of KARE 11 Investigates – “The Gap: Failure to Treat, Failure to Protect.” Prompted by the tragic killing and mass shooting at the rural health clinic by a mentally ill criminal, and attempting to account for its occurrence, Stahl, Lagoe, Knox and Eckert sought relevant health and judicial records of criminal defendants with mental illness. Their own analysis showed many are at large and receive no medical services. Now, just over a year after the mass shooting and four months after the broadcast of “The Gap: Failure to Treat, Failure to Protect,” the work by Stahl, Lagoe, Knox and Eckert demonstrates that records discovery and analysis can lead to greater public awareness and the proposal of a legislative remedy. 

Leita Walker, First Amendment attorney, litigator and trial lawyer at Ballard Spahr, coordinated a media coalition that provided the judiciary with ample reason to allow cameras to record a criminal trial in Minnesota for the first time. Thanks to Walker’s efforts, the media coalition of over 35 national and international outlets worked with all parties throughout the trial: judge, prosecution and defense. The trial could hardly have been more historic – State of Minnesota vs. Derek Michael Chauvin. Coordinating media across such a wide spectrum – broadcast, radio, print with local, state, national and international audiences in mind – took knowledge of the law and the public’s need for public information to hold its government accountable for actions taken. Walker’s tactful and tireless efforts kept all parties informed and in agreement while maintaining respectful relationships with the judiciary.

MNCOGI is pleased to announce recipients of this year’s John R. Borger Lifetime Achievement Award: 

James Barnum, Deputy General Counsel for Hubbard Broadcasting, has worked steadfastly for over three decades to provide legal support and advice enabling journalists to do their jobs in ensuring government transparency and holding officials accountable.  Even as they encountered resistance seeking records in the face of emerging technologies (such as last century’s cell phones) and overcoming sympathetic parties who sought to close off investigatory files. Journalists could rely upon Barnum to support their efforts to obtain public records and protect the public’s right to know time and time again. 

Online Award ceremony will be held on Wednesday, March 16th, 7 pm.

Click Here to register in advance for this free webinar.

Video of 2021 Finnegan FOI Award Ceremony

~ mncogi

Video is now available of the 2021 John R. Finnegan Freedom of Information Awards ceremony. This year, John R. Finnegan awards were presented to:

  • the partnership of Mapping Prejudice & Hennepin County; and
  • Barry LaGrave, Director of Minnesota House Public Information Services, and Steve Senyk, Director of Minnesota Senate Media Services.

This ceremony, held virtually on March 15th, 2021, featured remarks by all award recipients and a presentation on the Mapping Prejudice project.

MNCOGI: Freedom of Information Awards Ceremony

~ mncogi

The Minnesota Coalition on Government Information (MNCOGI) is pleased to present this year’s John R. Finnegan Freedom of Information Awards to the partnership of Mapping Prejudice & Hennepin County and also to directors of Minnesota House and Senate information services. The awards ceremony will feature a presentation on the Mapping Prejudice project. It is free and open to the public, but registration is required.Time

Mar 15, 2021 07:00 PM in Central Time (US and Canada)

The Minnesota Coalition on Government Information (MNCOGI) 2021 Freedom of Information awards honor the partnership of Mapping Prejudice & Hennepin County and also the directors of Minnesota House and Senate information services

~ mncogi

Public is invited to a virtual award ceremony featuring a presentation on the Mapping Prejudice Project.

The Minnesota Coalition on Government Information (MNCOGI) is pleased to announce that two teams will receive this year’s John R. Finnegan Freedom of Information Award: 

The Mapping Prejudice Project and Hennepin County, working in partnership, documented the widespread use of racial covenants in property deeds restricting ownership to Caucasians from 1910 to 1955. The Project raised awareness of deep-seated past prejudices and led to significant changes in public policy. Project leaders, based at the University of Minnesota, and thousands of volunteers used a wide range of technology to extract data from more than one million scanned deed images and make the findings publicly available via maps and other resources.  “It was shocking for people to see the extensive use of covenants and read phrases like . . . ‘said premises shall never be occupied by a colored person or for any immoral use’,” wrote Will Craig and Steve Brandt in nominating the Project for this award. Other covenants offered explicit lists of those to be excluded – for example, “premises shall not at any time be conveyed, mortgaged or leased to any person or persons of Chinese, Japanese, Moorish, Turkish, Negro, Mongolian or African blood or descent.” Mapping Prejudice staff has made 300 public presentations, and its website attracted nearly 200,000 unique visitors. Strong public response included a state law enabling homeowners to legally discharge prejudicial language from their property records. Now, local governments across Hennepin County are taking steps to make it easier for owners to learn about covenants. The Project has expanded to Ramsey County and beyond. As the eyes of the world turned to Minneapolis in May of 2020 following the killing of George Floyd, national media organizations drew on the Project’s maps and contextual historical framework to help foster understanding of the factors leading to the ensuing social movement.  

Barry LaGrave, Director of Minnesota House Public Information Services, and Steve Senyk, Director of Minnesota Senate Media Services, made significant contributions to open government in Minnesota by leading their respective offices to provide legislative information as the pandemic forced reductions in physical public access to state government. In 2020, the state House and Senate adopted rules to allow for remote hearings. These two directors of non-partisan legislative offices quickly adapted during the middle of the 2020 session, making it possible to record and process such meetings. Their challenge demanded scrambling to add resources, including hardware, staff, and additional contracted resources. “The past year has required quick thinking, sudden adaptations, creativity, attention to detail, teamwork, and expanded infrastructure, all of which Barry and Steve brought to bear in their work,” wrote staffers of the Minnesota Legislative Reference Library in nominating LaGrave and Senyk for this award. “As the 2021 legislative session approached, both media offices upped their game and increased the streams available on the Internet… to address the committee structures that had been put in place to better adapt to the realities of COVID-19 and remote committee hearings.” Beyond timely public access to the workings of Minnesota government, those efforts also led to audio and visual files that are archived for use by legislative researchers, the media and the public. 

Award ceremony: When: Monday, March 15th, 7 pm

How to join: The event is free and open to the public, but registration is required. Please use this link to register: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_DM4xJp7WR0mC6L_mkF.vi9A

MNCOGI 2020 Finnegan Freedom of Information Award

~ mncogi

On November 17, 2020, MNCOGI hosted a virtual 2020 Finnegan award ceremony, followed by a panel discussion that featured APM Reports “In the Dark” team members, and was moderated by Professor Jane Kirtley. Jane Kirtley is the Silha Professor of Media Ethics and Law at the Hubbard School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Minnesota, and a MNCOGI board member.

View the event here.

https://vimeo.com/twelveplus/review/480957142/6107d1276a

MNCOGI’s John R. Finnegan Freedom of Information Award honored APM Reports “In the Dark” team of host Madeleine Baran, producers Samara Freemark, Natalie Jablonski and Rehman Tungekar, and reporters Parker Yesko and Will Craft for outstanding work on podcasts aired since 2016. One series scrutinized the law enforcement system in the case of the kidnapping and killing of Jacob Wetterling.  Another examined the case of Curtis Flowers, who had been convicted in Mississippi for a 1996 murder but won six retrials and a favorable U.S. Supreme Court ruling due to flawed prosecution. The APM team arduously dug into public records, assembled sophisticated data analysis and creatively deployed the narrative podcast form to deliver powerful and compelling exposures of injustice.

MNCOGI’s Lifetime Achievement Award honored First Amendment attorney John Borger (posthumously) for a significant body of accomplishments that helped to advance and preserve the public’s right to government transparency. Borger, a long-time MNCOGI board member, worked for decades to protect Minnesota’s sunshine laws. His dogged commitment to allowing facts to be uncovered and published has benefited all Minnesotans. In landmark public access cases and dozens of everyday open-records and open-meeting battles, Borger fought to assure that public officials lived up to the demands of data practices law. Borger died on December 16, 2019. MNCOGI’s future Lifetime Achievement Awards will be named in his honor.