News sues over report access

The Deseret Morning News has sued Salt Lake County and the Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office seeking access to an investigative report on allegations of sexual harassment in the county clerk's office.

The lawsuit filed recently in 3rd District Court asks the court to deem the report a public record and make it available to the newspaper with certain information redacted, or edited, to exclude information the court finds to be "private" or "protected" under the Utah Government Records and Access Management Act (GRAMA).

County officials contend the information the newspaper wants is private and protected under both GRAMA and county policy.

"We've received the GRAMA appeal," said deputy district attorney Valerie Wilde. "Our position is, we believe that GRAMA and county policy prohibit release of the report. We'll see what the judge thinks. I understand that the Deseret Morning News thinks one thing and we think another. I guess we'll need a judge to split the tie."

But newspaper representatives argue in the lawsuit that the public has "a strong and compelling interest" in examining the conduct of public officials, learning about the nature and duration of any alleged misconduct and knowing how the county investigates and responds to such claims.

The Deseret Morning News attempted to get the report in September and exhausted all administrative remedies available through county government, according to the suit.

"We think the public has a right to know about this because it goes to the competence of county government," said Rick Hall, managing editor of the Deseret Morning News.

"GRAMA is clearly on our side in this endeavor," Hall said. "We're disappointed that the county wouldn't make this public without (the newspaper) having to go to such lengths."

Salt Lake County Councilman Joe Hatch in December criticized the Deseret Morning News' efforts to get the report as he walked out of a meeting where the council was deliberating the report. "I really dislike what the Deseret News is doing in this case — they claim to be a PG paper in an R-rated world, and now they want something triple-X. It's a game they're playing; it's political."

Hall, however, disagrees. "The sole reason we're going after it is because the public needs to review how county government is working, and this goes right to the heart of it.