Mayor opposes recording bill

Spokane Valley Mayor Rich Munson is openly critical of a proposal to record closed discussions.

A bill in the state House of Representatives would require public officials to keep an audio recording of “executive sessions” for two years.

Judges would review the recordings privately to resolve allegations that officials exceeded their authority to discuss some issues in behind closed doors.

If improper discussions are found, judges could reveal that part of the recording to the public.

“What they’re doing is wiping out our ability to have private attorney-client discussions,” Munson said Monday as he prepared to take that message to Olympia.

Existing state law lists a number of topics that may be reviewed in closed session, including the purchase of real estate, the performance of an employee or pending litigation.

Munson believes public officials can’t exercise their right to confidential legal advice if they fear a recording could be leaked to the public, accidentally released or reviewed by a judge.

Lawyers sometimes give advice on judges to avoid or seek out, but they won’t do that if there is a chance those judges will listen to the recording, Munson said.

He also worries about the difficulties and costs of securely archiving the recordings.

Although people who challenge the legality of an executive session would bear the burden of proof, Munson said the Association of Washington Cities also wants challengers to pay government legal costs if they’re wrong.

Also, he said, the association wants a higher standard of proof: “clear, cogent and convincing evidence.”

As it stands, the bill says only that critics must support their requests for judicial review with “credible evidence, supported by declaration or affidavit.”

He said Gov. Chris Gregoire, who supports the bill, so far hasn’t delivered on a promise last month to support the association’s proposed amendments.

Munson planned to deliver his criticism in an unusual nighttime hearing that the Legislature should reject a bill amending Washington’s sunshine law on government meetings.

The 8 p.m. hearing on House Bill 3292 was scheduled only after its prime sponsor, House Majority Leader Lynn Kessler, D-Hoquiam, pressured the chairman of the State Government and Tribal Affairs Committee, according to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

Rep. Sam Hunt, D-Olympia, told the newspaper he thought the bill faced a “difficult sales job” in his committee because most members had served on local boards and councils.

However, State Attorney General Rob McKenna cited the bill’s progress in the face of adversity.

“No one has more lobbyists in Olympia than the cities and counties,” McKenna said in a Post-Intelligencer online story that was updated Sunday.

Indeed, Munson told The Spokesman-Review, the Spokane Valley City Council has instructed its Tacoma-based lobbyist, Gordon Thomas, to oppose the legislation.

But Munson was to testify Monday as president of the Association of Washington Cities, not as mayor. He said the Spokane Valley council hadn’t had a chance to ask Munson to speak for the city.

Munson said the association, which was paying his expenses Monday, is “adamantly opposed” to House Bill 3292.

“We don’t happen to agree that most public officials are dishonest,” Munson said.

State law already provides fines and other penalties for local governments that violate the Open Public Meetings Act, “and that should be enough,” Munson said.

He characterized the bill as an overreaction to allegations that the Port of Seattle improperly authorized a $339,000 bonus for its outgoing chief executive in a closed meeting.

Requiring all public officials to keep an audio recording of their executive sessions amounts to “the attorney general taking a shotgun to something that should be resolved with a rifle,” Munson said, referring to accuracy.

However, McKenna stated in his request for the legislation that state Auditor Brian Sonntag found 460 disputed executive sessions between Jan. 1, 2004, and Nov. 13 last year. Complaints alleged lack of notice as well as improper discussions.

In addition to the Port of Seattle issue, McKenna cited a case in which Port of Longview commissioners may have violated the open meetings law by filling a vacancy on their board during a closed session. No record of the meeting was available to resolve the dispute.

Public officials actually could benefit from a recording if it helps them disprove false allegations, McKenna suggested.