LSU rebuffs requests for records on budget cuts

From The Advocate – Baton Rouge:

LSU denied public access to emails and documents related to budget cuts for public hospitals and efforts to move more of the LSU health care operations into the private sector.

Shelby McKenzie, a private Baton Rouge lawyer acting as LSU System’s general counsel, said Tuesday that his clients are invoking the “deliberative process privilege” to keep those records secret.

The stance came in response to public records requests made in late September by The Advocate, seeking access to documents written by and received by LSU System President William Jenkins, LSU System Executive Vice President Frank Opelka and LSU Board of Supervisors Chairman Hank Danos concerning the hospital budget cuts and privatization efforts.