The Washington State Patrol this month paid Attorney John Brangwin $58,433.67 and in exchange the defense lawyer dropped his lawsuit against the agency for failing to provide public records in a timely manner.
According to the Washington State Public Records Act (RCW 42.56), agencies must provide public records within five days, or provide a reasonable timeframe for when the records will be produced.
In the course of Brangwin’s professional duties as a defense lawyer it’s common for him to request records regarding the circumstances of a client’s traffic stop by law enforcement. In this case, he said he made a simple request that would probably take the WSP 15 minutes to fulfill if the records had been requested by a prosecutor.
But in this case, it took WSP officials 75 days to provide the information he requested. Even then some of the content he requested was missing.
Brangwin’s attorney Jeremy Burke addressed the disparity in how WSP treats requestors depending on their professional positions in a press release Wednesday.
“At its core, the public records act is about government accountability and transparency. We were shocked and appalled to learn that WSP was giving preferential treatment to those it believed aligned with its ideology, but unreasonably delaying the request made by an ordinary citizen,” Burke wrote. “For a government of the people, by the people and for the people to successfully work, someone has to be willing to hold the government accountable. This case and the outcome are a step towards a more transparent and accountable government. No one is above the law, and that includes the government.”
It’s the second time Brangwin has sued WSP over a Public Records Act violation, and the second time the agency has settled.
WSP released a statement to the media regarding the settlement yesterday.
“We take our responsibility to respond to information requests very seriously. WSP considers transparency the hallmark of our approach and we are committed to the people we serve. We receive thousands of similar requests each year and have a professional staff dedicated to that task. In this case, we felt our personnel were responsive and our timed response was reasonable,” they wrote. “We also felt the challenges to service were minimal and our response to incomplete information provided was swift. With this in mind, we still accepted the recommendation of the Attorney General’s Office to settle this case to avoid continuing expensive legal fees. We wish the complainants well and respect the process. We have full faith and confidence in the dedicated personnel who respond to these requests and have reviewed this situation so that we can continuously improve or services.”
I stopped by Brangwin and Burke’s law offices in East Wenatchee yesterday and asked them about the case, and why it’s important for public agencies to provide public records in a timely manner.
You can watch that short interview, with subtitles, above.
Share this post