Report That Atlanta Hindered Records Request Draws Scrutiny

TLANTA (AP) — The Georgia attorney general’s office has asked for an investigation into a report that the press office of Atlanta’s former mayor obstructed requests made under the state’s open records law.

Katie Byrd, spokeswoman for the office of Attorney General Chris Carr, confirmed in an email Tuesday that the office had referred the matter to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

WSB-TV reported last week that a string of text messages showed an Atlanta city spokeswoman in 2017 advised a city official to be “as unhelpful as possible” in responding to a request from the television station for public records. The spokeswoman also advised the official to “drag this out” as long as possible and to provide information in the most confusing format available.

Kasim Reed was Atlanta’s mayor at the time. Read more…