09/04/2015

OCOG moves forward to meet new challenges

By Dennis Hetzel, Executive Director

For several years, we’ve heard complaints that the Ohio Supreme Court is anything but friendly to citizens in open government cases, most of which involve access to records or efforts to keep meetings open to the public.

At the Ohio Coalition for Open Government, we decided to find out. With the help of ONA’s summer intern, Courtney Stanley from the University of Cincinnati, and the advice of several Sunshine Law expert attorneys, we built a spreadsheet that analyzed every decision the Court had made in open government cases since 2010. We also developed a “scorecard” so you can see how every justice is voting.

And now I’m going to tease you by saying that we will be releasing the results later this month, and every Ohio journalist should take a look. If I were still a publisher or editor, I would be keeping these results in mind when justices come up for re-election and seek endorsements, too.

It was the second summer in a row in which OCOG was directly involved with a major project of statewide impact. In 2014, OCOG helped to lead an audit of public records compliance that covered governmental bodies in all 88 Ohio counties.

Many ONA members may not appreciate the importance of OCOG, which has a separate board that includes citizens and broadcast colleagues but is legally an offshoot of our Ohio Newspapers Foundation. (Under the bylaws, I’m the president as ONA’s executive director.)

And many aren’t cognizant of the severe limitations on its resources, which are less than $60,000 at this writing – with considerable pro bono staff support from the ONA. That should matter to ONA members a lot, because OCOG’s involvement in Sunshine Law cases is helping journalists do their jobs every day.

Just in the past year, OCOG’s support has helped achieve three major victories. The Ohio Supreme Court ruled that the names of substitute teachers and a callback from a 911 dispatcher in a murder case were indeed public records. Otterbein University student journalists achieved a big win when the Court ruled that police departments with sworn officers at private colleges are subject to the open records law.

OCOG also is backing two pending cases that will impact everyone’s news coverage. One case involves the Olentangy School District, in which a majority of the board excluded a member and used email to end-run the open meetings law. Another involves the refusal of the Columbus police – and many other departments – to allow access to case files in closed criminal cases.

The demand on resources grows. With that in mind, OCOG’s board met recently to discuss priorities in the future. Increasing resources is critical, but that won’t happen unless and until there’s a solid strategic plan and a higher profile.

Here is some of what we’re doing, planning to do or hoping to do that’s new:

• Starting at the next ONA convention in February, there will be an annual OCOG award recognizing a person, group or organization that has made a major contribution to open government in Ohio. A committee is now working on the details of what this award will be called and how it will be decided.
• We are unveiling an OCOG version of the “Legislative Watch List” that ONA provides its members. This will not take specific positions on pending legislation – that isn’t appropriate -- but it will alert OCOG members to the status, pros and cons of pending legislation involving Ohio’s sunshine laws.
• We’ll be expanding our social media presence, particularly with Facebook and Twitter. (And you can check out OCOG’s website anytime at www.ohioopengov.com . )
• We want to create a downloadable “wallet card” for citizens and journalists with key points about Ohio’s sunshine laws, including how to appeal denials of access. Related, we also will “mobile-optimize” the website as soon as we can, so this information is readily available on any device. We may want to build an app.
• Longer term, as resources allow, we have some bigger ideas. One is to have training on sunshine laws for citizens across the state. Another is to significantly grow our “defense fund” to directly support more legal battles. The biggest idea of all may be to eventually spin OCOG off on its own with its own director.

I can’t conclude this column without a pitch for support. OCOG membership is optional. It’s not automatic for ONA members.   You can become a member of OCOG with a yearly payment of $35 for individuals; $50 for non-profit; and $70 for attorney/corporate membership.

The number of Ohio media members supporting OCOG is unacceptably small. Please give this some consideration. You can join OCOG and donate to the organization by credit card when you fill out OCOG’s online donation and membership form. OCOG is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization.