I want to apologize to my subscribers over last week’s incomplete Beehiv. The story was thrown together and shows - complete with typos and an incomplete header. Still having to triage projects at this point.

Today’s Sunday Morning Paper starts with the sad fact that only some of the comments to the Washington State Attorney General’s Office on their public records model rules update are available. Only some because those posted in a PDF table lack links to the Word and PDF comments. This translates into further reporting on the model rules process being in a holding pattern.

Sigh. Public records request time…

Jamie Nixon’s The Public Records Officer Podcast is nothing short of turning & burning about the auto-delete scandal rocking Olympia. In the first part of a two-part podcast, Nixon exposes Department of Licensing hearing examiner misconduct:

In part 2, Nixon then focuses on…

If you wonder why public records matter, listen to these two podcast episodes please. The Seattle Times has also picked up the story.

Since I don’t have much open government news that’s publishable, ought to as well publish an abridged, updated column from February 2025 that did not make a Washington Coalition for Open Government newsletter with no hard feelings and a solemn intent to take my own advice this very month. With that… let’s roll:

Do you realize you have the power to change somebody’s sense of place and belonging for the price of… 30 minutes.  You can also help retain an advocate for open government by an award nomination and ensure that the word of Washington Coalition for Open Government spreads. I should know, I won a Key Award last month:

Anyone who’s paying attention knows that threats to open government are increasing. I will break this out between public records and public meetings on my side of the house.

We live in a dangerous time of regression regarding public records access.  Legislative privilege is being supported in the state courts and could expand well beyond the Washington State legislature.  We have growing exemptions to the Public Records Act every single legislative season that not just provide potential for use but abuse on requestors by public agencies.  Dozens of bills are filed each year attempting to add more exemptions to the Public Records Act.

On the public meetings side of the house, there are also threats to access, too. Primarily, this is from hate speech aimed at the local and regional levels of state governance coupled to an unclear definition of “orderly conduct of such meeting unfeasible” in RCW 42.30.050, which puts the remote testimony access we the people won in 2020 and 2022 at some risk. There are also a handful of bills introduced each legislative season that I will actively help keep an eye on thru this Beehiv. Although the state legislature has generally supported a strong Open Public Meetings Act, the 2026 legislative session sure creates doubts on the future of legislators’ support.

With that, retaining public access to both public records and also public meetings does arguably come down to that local journalist or activist signposting that the journalistic work is partially or entirely on public records to capture the public’s imagination and lobby legislators. 

Politics is shaped in part by news media coverage. That’s why Project 42 has created arguably at least two “capacity groups” to provide more right of centre news media…

For all of these reasons, a Washington Coalition for Open Government Key Award is always up for gifting. Therefore, I am asking you please join me in volunteering as capacity allows on getting these nominations in to retain not just the WashCOG member or supportive journalist or pro-transparency politician but the family and community behind the potential awardee.  Giving that asset called time away is hard and harder still with skeptical family members, pals/friends, and community members.  It’s easier when the family and community see value in our work.

Having done this awards paperwork for some time, making awards nominations is arguably a form of volunteerism.  One must make the time to research a nomination, bang out their notes, proofread the notes, and then turn in the nomination.  I will be doing this at least several times this month.  Sounds a lot like volunteer journalism, eh?

Ultimately, with the WashCOG ban on self-nominations – I submit it’s your duty to the cause of open government to help your wingwomen and wingmen overcome the barrier, regardless of your feelings about the barrier to self-nominations and full competition.  This Coalition for Open Government constitutes the total of the collective, collaborative inputs WE individually give.  Without families and communities who accept and understand our work via awards and the resulting relationship-building, this Coalition risks having the wheels come off at the worst possible time.

Over to you…