Iowa governor unveils public records process after lawsuit

DES MOINES — Gov. Kim Reynolds’ office on Friday announced a new system for handling open record requests, a day after three media organizations filed a lawsuit, charging Reynolds has repeatedly violated the state’s open records laws by ignoring requests for government records, some for more than a year.

Reynolds' spokesman Alex Murphy sent an email to reporters Friday saying the pandemic created increased records requests that are still being processed.

“Due to this enhanced volume, we have revisited our open records process and have made changes to help efficiently complete requests,” he said.

Murphy said reporters with outstanding requests will be notified of their status.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa filed the lawsuit Thursday in Polk County District Court.

In the lawsuit, journalists said they have tried to get public records from Reynolds’ office starting as early as April 2020 without success despite waiting for months and, in some cases, well over a year. Often, the governor’s office didn’t acknowledge the records requests or respond to inquiries.

The ACLU is representing Laura Belin, who operates the left-leaning Bleeding Heartland blog; Clark Kauffman, a reporter for the Iowa Capital Dispatch; and Randy Evans, executive director of the Iowa Freedom of Information Council.

The Freedom of Information Council represents news outlets across the state, including The Gazette.

One of the neglected records requests cited in the lawsuit is a July 7 request The Gazette sent to the governor’s office seeking emails, communications or contracts about the State Patrol’s deployment to the U.S. border with Mexico. The governor’s office never provided any records related to the request.

“She has acted as if the public records law does not apply to her,” Evans said, “as if there’s an asterisk in this statute that says the governor is excused from having to comply with that law’s requirements if it’s inconvenient or if it might prove to be embarrassing.”

Murphy said the governor's office would not comment on the lawsuit.

Erin Jordan of The Gazette contributed to this report.