ACLU sues Gov. Kim Reynolds for 'stonewalling' public records requests from Iowa news outlets

A new lawsuit on behalf of three Iowa reporters and their news organizations seeks to pry long-sought public documents from the office of Gov. Kim Reynolds.

The suit was announced Thursday by the American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa. It alleges that Reynolds' office has delayed responding to records request regarding COVID-19 and other policy issues, in some cases for more than a year.

 "Unfortunately, this enforcement action has become necessary because the governor's office has shown a troubling and really persistent problem of simply ignoring many of the open records requests filed with them, even, as here, by reporters with wide audiences and reach doing important work in the public interest," ACLU Legal Director Rita Bettis Austen said in a press conference Thursday.

The complaint, filed in Polk County district court, seeks an order finding the governor's office in violation of the law, compelling it to turn over the requested records and refrain from future unlawful delays.

Reynolds spokesman Alex Murphy, who is also named as a defendant, said her office has no comment on the lawsuit. In a Friday email to members of the Capitol press, however, Murphy announced new processes to speed responses to record requests.

"During the pandemic, our office saw a considerable increase in the number of open records requests and we continue to process them," he wrote, without mentioning the new lawsuit. "... Thank you for your understanding and patience as we work to reduce the backlog that occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic."

More:Iowa auditor sued for refusing to release emails about rejected accusation against Gov. Kim Reynolds

The suit names six plaintiffs: journalist Laura Belin and her media outlet, Bleeding Heartland; the Iowa Capital Dispatch and its reporter Clark Kauffman; and the Iowa Freedom of Information Council and its executive director, Randy Evans.

According to the complaint, Belin's unanswered records requests include communications asking the governor to sign or veto certain legislation, video messages the governor may have recorded for meatpacking plant employees regarding COVID-19, and records of donations of the use of the governor's mansion for private events.

"By stonewalling my records requests for over a year, the governor's office has concealed information about matters of clear public interest," Belin said in a statement. "Iowans have a right to know the information included in these requests."

Editorial:Now we know what state employees really think about upholding access to public records. (Not much.)

Kauffman likewise has been seeking records about the use of Terrace Hill to benefit private organizations, as well as communications regarding the disputed firing of the former director of the Iowa Veterans Home. In the latter case, the governor's office provided some but not all of the requested records.

Evans, whose organization advocates for media organizations on public access and record matters, requested records in August concerning Reynolds' deployment of the Iowa State Patrol to Texas in July to assist in border security efforts.

"[Governor Reynolds] has acted as if the public records law does not apply to her," Evans said. "She has acted as if there is an asterisk in this law that says the governor is excused from having to comply with its requirements if it is inconvenient or might prove to be embarrassing."

The Des Moines Register is not a party to the lawsuit, although it is a member of the Freedom of Information Council. However, Register reporters have also had difficulty obtaining records from Reynolds' office. In one instance, the Register filed a records request in April 2020, and it took the Governor's staff 16 months to respond that her office had no responsive records. 

More:Eight years in, how well does the Iowa Public Information Board work? Depends on whom you ask.

The arrival of COVID-19 disrupted operations at all levels of government, and Bettis Austin said in a press conference the plaintiffs had "shown so much grace" to the governor's office, repeatedly reminding, refiling their requests, and carefully crafting those requests to be simple and straightforward to fulfill.

"I know that we all wish that this action today was not necessary, but we are really now long past the point when any delay could conceivably be viewed as reasonable," she said.

Reynolds' office is already facing other lawsuits over public record requests. In one case, involving a request from March for state contracts with Nomi Health for COVID-19 testing, Reynolds has argued in court that her office was too busy responding to the pandemic to promptly answer the requests, and that information about how her staff allocated time and efforts should be shielded by executive privilege.

Previously:Iowa argues open-records law not 'well-recognized' policy

William Morris covers courts for the Des Moines Register. He can be contacted at wrmorris2@registermedia.com, 715-573-8166 or on Twitter at @DMRMorris.