TWN
THE WASHINGTON NEWSPAPER
Golden Quill entries due by Feb. 1 Page 5
January 2022
Journal of the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association
Keep political ads organized for inspection
Coalition to pursue lawsuit in trial court
Public has a right to see files on all political ads published Newspapers are required to keep records of published political ads and make those records available for inspection if someone asks to see them. This right is rarely invoked by the public, but every now and then issues arise and newspapers should be prepared to let the public inspect those records. This issue arose recently when a WNPA paper got a request from an incarcerated individual for advertising records. The publisher seemed to think this same individual was also a person who sometimes made random public records requests in the hopes that
a government agency would err and fines could be collected. Unlike the requirements for governments under the Public Records Act, you are not required to search the last five years of invoices and send people records. Under RCW 42.17A.345, you are required only “to maintain current books of account and related materials … that shall be open for public inspection during normal business hours during the campaign and for a period of no less than five years after the date of the applicable election.” The records should specify: See ADS, Page 2
Droplets collect in some lupine leaves. This photo by Al Camp, was published in the Omak-Okanogan County Chronicle and took home a second place award in last year’s Better Newspaper Contest.
PLU professor Cliff Rowe passes away
By Fred Obee WNPA Executive Director Cliff Rowe, a long-time journalism instructor at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma and a deep well of knowledge and wisdom, died Jan. 5. He was 84. I first encountered Cliff in the mid1980s when I was a freshly-minted editor at the Whidbey News-Times in Oak Harbor. It was at a WNPA event, I’m sure, perhaps a winter meeting in La Conner, when Cliff offered to critique our news-
papers and put us on the path to something better. “Just send me three copies,” he said. I took him up on it. I picked three copies I was proud of and sent them off. At the time I was Rowe struggling to get my editor shoes to fit. I’d never been in a management position before
and getting the staff to perform the way I wanted it to was a struggle. I thought the reporters should be doing a better job editing their own copy, hitting deadlines and illustrating their work with quality photos. I waited patiently for Cliff to give me ammunition I could use to whip the staff into shape. After several weeks, the papers returned. I pulled them from the envelope and noted that scrawled messages See ROWE, Page 3
The Washington Coalition for Open Government will pursue in Thurston County Superior Court its open meetings lawsuit against the Washington State Redistricting Commission for flagrantly violating state transparency laws. The Washington state Supreme Court recently declined to bypass the trial court and hear the case directly. The question before the state’s highest court was a matter of venue rather than the merits of the case. WashCOG sued the Redistricting Commission to protect the integrity of the state Open Public Meetings Act, hold the commission accountable and seek remedies that prevent future commissions from similar violations. Citizens need to see commission deliberations to understand how public officials arrive at their collective decisions, WashCOG believes. Only then, they say, can citizens determine whether officials acted wisely on the public’s behalf. The lawsuit argues that in its meeting Nov. 15 the Redistricting Commission engaged in secret negotiations to draft and come to agreement about proposed legislative See SUIT, Page 2