Court accepts settlement in open records lawsuit against Iowa governor’s office

The Polk County District Court approved a settlement agreement Monday in a lawsuit against Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds’ office filed by journalists and media organizations who sought to require her office to respond to public record requests.

Reynolds settled the lawsuit after the Iowa Supreme Court refused to dismiss the case.

Clark Kauffman and the Iowa Capital Dispatch, Randy Evans and the Iowa Freedom of Information Council and Laura Belin and Bleeding Heartland filed the lawsuit in 2021, asserting the governor had violated Iowa’s open records law by refusing for up to 18 months to provide numerous records the journalists requested. The reporters had emailed the governor’s office with eight different open-record requests between April 2020 and April 2021 and renewed each request at least once. In each case, they received no response until filing a lawsuit in December 2021.

In a statement, the governor's office acknowledged the settlement but said problems stemmed from demands during the height of the pandemic.

“The COVID-19 response put unprecedented demands on the governor’s team to meet the immediate needs of Iowans," Kollin Crompton, the governor's deputy communications director, said in a statement. "As a result, responses to requests were unintentionally delayed, which is not acceptable. Our office has assessed our internal processes and we continue to reevaluate the process to improve timeliness.”

Under the terms of the settlement, the governor’s office agreed to allow a state District Court to resolve any future open records disputes with three plaintiffs that may arise over the next year. The State Appeal Board last week approved $135,000 to cover legal fees for the organizations.

“Our clients and other members of the press like them fulfill a vital role in our democracy by keeping the public informed and the government accountable to the people,” said Thomas Story, staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa, which represented the journalists and media organizations.

“Throughout this litigation we have emphasized one crucial point: Nobody is above the law,” Story said. “We are pleased the Governor’s Office has agreed to a one-year term of judicial oversight of its compliance with Iowa’s open records law. If it becomes necessary, we look forward to working closely with the Governor’s Office to ensure our clients can access public records in a timely manner and report on state government so that 'we the people’ can understand, oversee and engage with our elected officials.

"We note the Governor’s Office has stated it has revisited its open records policies and has committed to doing better moving forward. For our clients and us, this settlement agreement is about ensuring that it indeed will.“