Capitol Notebook: Lawsuit over public records, auditor’s office dismissed

DES MOINES — A lawsuit over public records requests made to the state auditor’s office has been dismissed by a state judge.

Iowa District Court Judge Robert Hanson on Tuesday dismissed the lawsuit, which was brought by the Kirkwood Institute, an Iowa-based conservative legal organization, against Democratic state Auditor Rob Sand.

Hanson said the auditor’s office properly applied state law when withholding some documents in a pair of records requests from Kirkwood.

According to court documents, the auditor’s office provided several hundred pages of email records per the request but withheld nine email strings, citing confidentiality protections in state law.

The judge determined those records “were properly maintained as confidential and withheld,” according to court documents.

“We are committed to transparency, but also to protecting whistleblowers who help us uncover waste, fraud, and corruption,” Sand said in a statement.

“We’ve had everyone from right-wing media outlets to the Democratic National Committee ask for records that could possibly identify tipsters,” he said. “Our answer is the same every time: We must deny requests that would chip away at our ability to protect whistleblowers and save taxpayers money.”

AMES TICKET A $1 MILLION WINNER: A Mega Millions ticket bought at an Ames convenience store is a $1 million winner, according to the Iowa Lottery.

It is the third Mega Millions prize of at least $1 million won in Iowa in just more than a month, the lottery said.

The latest winning ticket came within one number of winning the $191 million jackpot, the lottery said. With no winner, that jackpot now increases to an estimated $210 million for Friday’s drawing.

ISRAEL BONDS: The state of Iowa made a $10 million investment in Israel Bonds, state treasurer Mike Fitzgerald announced.

Iowa becomes the 28th state to purchase bonds through the Development Corporation for Israel, Fitzgerald’s office said.

“This is a strong investment for Iowa,” Fitzgerald said in a news release. “Our policy is to seek good returns from safe investments. These bonds will earn over $85,000 more than a U.S. T-bill. Additionally, Israel Bonds have never defaulted in over 73 years of issuing debt.”