Does the Tennessee Open Records Act trump the First and Fourth Amendments of the United States Constitution?

Michael Silence says it does. Legal experts I have talked with say it doesn't.

The question is whether private citizens have an expectation to privacy when they communicate with their County Commissioners. What will the average citizen do if they think that anything they communicate to their Commissioner can become public record? They will cease communicating with their Commissioners. Is that what we need?

Is that the goal Mayor Ragsdale has in mind? Or is he just compiling another enemies list like the good old days of Tyler Harber.

No matter what the legal outcome of this is, this was criminally stupid of Ragsdale and people must question whether his service as Mayor have become counter productive to our County?

I guess I don't follow the 1st and 4th Amendment argument. DeFreese is an elected public official. Receiving and acting on correspondence from constituents is part of her official duties. Citizens corresponding with elected officials presumably want their remarks taken into account in conducting public affairs, which should be conducted in public. And isn't writing to elected officials sort of the point of the 1st Amendment?

I have never had any expectation of private correspondence when writing a public official, and don't see why anyone else would either unless it involved something of a highly sensitive nature such as a minor or an ongoing criminal investigation.

The CBT emails were private correspondence and not public business. They were compromised by what some allege were illegal means. That seems different to me.

I suppose there is a whistleblower protection aspect to your argument. But many government agencies have procedures for that. Does Knox County? I don't know. On the other hand, a lot of anonymous whistle blowers can waste a lot of government official's time (and taxpayer's money) chasing down every wild accusation made by someone with an ax to grind.

Anyway, this just sounds like a case of a Commissioner making an exaggerated claim in a public meeting, and the offended party calling her on. As I said, though, I'm not sure why they want to keep poking at this hornet's nest.

I just dont know what falls under the open records act.

The Mayor could have a legal leg to stand on.

I just dont know why he wants to.

Not sure why they would want to keep poking this hornet's nest with a stick.

My guess - I suspect the Mayor sees an opening to discredit someone who's going to keep poking him with a stick. DeFreese is Pinkston with more brains and a more pleasant manner.

And yes, she's running for 2010.

DeFreese tried hard before her appt to portray herself as objective and independent. She's been roughed up on that score (although anybody who's been paying any attention already knew she had a definite agenda).

That said, anything that puts her in front of the television cameras is probably a bad idea.

"It is our intent to contact as many citizens as possible that express concern over this issue, including those who contacted individual commissioners, the County Commission office and the Knox County Ethics Committee," states the letter, dated March 27 and signed by Dwight Van de Vate, the mayor's chief administrative officer.

That is a quote from the KNS article. I had heard that the letter was sent to all the county commissioners. That quote seems to confirm that rumor. It also seems that they are planning on contacting anyone who disagrees with the mayor. That would make people less likely to contact their elected officials in the future if they thought that it might result in any type of intimidation.

I think you have to at least try to separate the politics from the issue. The reason someone wants a public record doesn't matter. We don't want judgement to be a part of any official deciding. The law, as I understood it from my days as a journalist (back when you had to shovel coal to keep the TV transmitter powered...it has been a while) the law is simple and clean: if you're a public official and you are given documents in your capacity as a public official it's a public record. The guide I always use: (link...)

I guess I don't follow the 1st and 4th Amendment argument.

So if the Bush administration starts taking detailed notes on all who oppose the war in Iraq, you'd have no problem with that?

By making your assumption that the right of the people "to petition the Government for a redress of grievances," should not be practiced assuming any degree of any anonymity on the part of the petitioner, because it has to do with government practices, then you are essentially calling for an end to everything from any private conversations with public officials to the use of a secret ballot system for voting, since that practice too relates to government operations.

The letter to Commissioner DeFreese is posted at the Knox County web site, (link...)

Also posted there is an example of the cover letter sent last week to citizens who wrote the Ethics Committee, as well as a copy of the letter sent to members of the Ethics Committee who are not County Commissioners (to discourage further conspiracy theories, the reason it was sent only to non-Commission members is that Commissioners have long since received the audit response).

Dwight Van de Vate
Chief Administrative Officer
Knox County Mayor's Office

The President would not be covered by the Tennessee Open Records law. This is a TN General Assembly act and applies only to Tennessee.

But I will tell you this, while there may be times that you don't like what it allows to be made public, overall it is a very, very good law. And don't think for a minute that most public officals don't know the law. Many in Mayor Ragsdale's office, including the Mayor, note it on their e-mail signatures.

Tennessee is better off for having this law.

in the public debate regarding Ragsdale's spending habits and proclivity to throw the public's money around with absolutely nothing to show for the vast investment in his personal lifestyle.

I suspect that the local media is already onto this tactic and if DeFreese can maintain her composure in a press conference, not talk about reading to children, or talking about moving the community forward, not talking about a time to heal, then this may be the begining of the end of Ragsdale as these gestapo type tactics to ascertain opinions and data from the citizens of the county is about as bad as it gets.

I think the number one question a Republican must ask themselves.

Will it play in those huge Republican county precincts.

I dont think this going play to good out in the county.

If dont play good..dont play it.

new industry and some realistic career opportunities to this community rather than play "gotcha" with an interim commissioner that voted against one of the administration's financial supporter's projects at the meeting last week.

We have a crisis in credibility in local government and hopefully Ms. DeFreese can make part of it go away this afternoon. Hopefully the mayor will resign and find some other budget to spend on rather than the public's money.

expessing my concerns about the p-card audit results and the competence of Mayor Ragsdale. After reading the letters that Mr. Van de Vate links to above, I would ask the mayor not to waste paper or time contacting me. I have already read his response to the audit and my opinion has not changed.

Refers repeatedly to "official correspondence." Correspondence generated BY the elected official is OC. Correspondence TO the elected official is not. If I write notes about a constituent's letter, that's my work product, and would be covered.

This point is easily reinforced by the e-mail section which reads "[email] correspondence OF the employee" and not TO the employee.

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Fighting for Reform and Representation, Fourth District
Steve Drevik, Commission Seat 4-B
(link...)

on the Knox County dime?

If he only knew how little the public cares for his position in life now, perhaps he would do whatever it is that the county mayor is supposed to do without spending all that money every day on purely personal expenses.