Oregon journalists call on Kotek to preserve the public’s right to know and veto a bill that would fuel backroom deals, secrecy
Open public meetings and transparency in government is crucial to combat waste, malfeasance and corruption. That's why the Society of Professional Journalists is calling on Gov. Tina Kotek to veto House Bill 4177.
Study after peer-reviewed reputable study shows that strong freedom-of-information and transparency laws deter and reduce public corruption. Thanks in part to the Oregon Public Meetings Law, Oregon has been able to avoid the scandals and bad reputation common to other states.
Recently disclosed public records make clear that HB 4177 is a recipe for backroom deals. The legislation would — if signed by Kotek — severely weaken if not destroy the longstanding expectation under Oregon law that the public’s business be conducted in public. (Click here for SPJ letter to Kotek)
Documents disclosed after the session ended show that HB 4177 raised far greater concerns for the agency that enforces Oregon Public Meetings Law — the Oregon Government Ethics Commission — than were shared with lawmakers before voting.
“We are asking Governor Kotek to veto this bill and protect a law that is crucial to all Oregonians’ ability to know what their government is doing, what it costs and how it will affect them,” said Penny Rosenberg, president of Greater Oregon SPJ.
Under HB 4177, for purposes of “gathering information” related to a decision that will be deliberated upon, a full county board or city council could meet with a corporate lobbyist for an extensive conversation — with scant ability for taxpayers to know the conversation even happened, let alone what was said, the records show.
“We are sympathetic to concerns raised by local officials that recent legal interpretations have complicated their jobs,” Rosenberg added. “But newly obtained documents show this bill essentially guts a law that is foundational to democracy in this state. We hope Gov. Kotek will do the right thing and protect Oregonians’ right to know, allowing a more careful, considered and deliberative process later this year to provide relief for local officials’ concerns.”
Rosenberg added, “SPJ’s Code of Ethics calls upon us to serve communities with civic information and defend open government for all Oregonians. This bill takes a wrecking ball to both of those things. We recognize that issuing a veto is no small thing for a governor. But we also know that Gov. Kotek took an oath to serve Oregonians. We are confident that she will consider the Oregon Government Ethics Commission’s findings that this bill would place barriers of secrecy between Oregonians and their government and undermine the public trust.”
In the past year, reporting by Oregon journalists exposed how Salem's mayor used a series of private conversations with city councilors to force the city manager to resign and how at least half of the Portland City Council used private group texts to coordinate votes in secret. In the Salem case, that reporting resulted in the ethics commission finding that the mayor and councilors deliberately orchestrated an illegal meeting.
At a time when Oregon leaders have criticized major policy changes executed behind closed doors in Washington, D.C. amid fears of autocratic rule, the SPJ board is alarmed by the threat to transparency and democracy in Oregon posed by HB 4177. We join in the calls for Governor Kotek to veto this bill.