Florida sued once again over handling of public records

Two telecommunications companies contend in a new lawsuit that the administration of Gov. Rick Scott is flouting the state's public records law.

The lawsuit is an outgrowth of a dispute over a nearly $400 million state contract the Scott administration recently awarded to a subsidiary of Florida-based Harris Corp. Continue…

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Veto push on Florida records limitations

First Amendment advocates are asking Gov. Rick Scott to veto three Senate bills his office received on Thursday, arguing that each measure represents another diminishment of Florida’s long tradition of open government and open records.

The First Amendment Foundation, an advocacy group for open government funded by newspapers and other groups and individuals, is asking Scott to veto four bills, including a House bill he has yet to receive.

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Opinion: Is a three-month delay for public records really ‘open government?’

On the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, late in the day, two veteran Tallahassee reporters finally received important public records from the office of Gov. Rick Scott. They had had requested the records, emails, more than three months prior, many weeks before Scott won a narrow re-election victory over former Gov. Charlie Crist.

While candidates might prefer to control the timing of a damaging news report — say, until after an election — Florida law doesn’t provide for that level of control where the release of public records are concerned.

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