Oregon open records bill dies after governor’s staff privately contradicts her transparency pledge, documents show

Top staffers for Gov. Kate Brown privately worked against a pro-transparency bill that ultimately failed in June, according to records released by Oregon’s public records advocate in the wake of her resignation Monday.

Brown has pledged to increase transparency under her watch since she was sworn in as governor in 2015. Yet memos and emails show staffers and lobbyists working on her behalf opposed a proposal to make state agencies track and disclose information about records requests they receive from the public.

The documents say Brown’s staffers told public records advocate Ginger McCall at least twice that her work to support the bill contradicted the governor’s interests and was a bad idea. (Read more here…)