deliberative process privilege

6 Sep, 2019

Gov. Lee’s decision not to release agency recommendations raises questions about deliberative process exemption

By |2019-09-06T17:41:25-05:00September 6, 2019|Categories: deliberative process privilege, Public Records, Tennessee Coalition for Open Government|Tags: , |0 Comments

A Tennessean reporter shows one of the state agency's recommendations he obtained on improving rural services despite refusal by the governor's office to release 22 state agency recommendations, citing the deliberative process privilege. The reporter, Joel Ebert, does not say how he obtained the report. In 2005, then-Gov. Phil Bredesen was planning a major scaleback to TennCare to, as he put it, "save" the program whose costs were rising exponentially. A sit-in was staged at the Tennessee State Capitol over several days to protest, to no avail. Karl Davidson, who was among the protesters, later alleged in a lawsuit that he and others at the sit-in were willfully and maliciously [...]

Read More
26 Oct, 2015

Knoxville News Sentinel: State holds back emails on outsourcing project

By |2017-03-27T16:21:26-05:00October 26, 2015|Categories: deliberative process privilege|Tags: , , , , , |0 Comments

Governor Bill Haslam's office released 72 pages of emails of his chief operating officer in charge of the state's building-management outsourcing project, but held back some, saying they fell under a "deliberative process" exemption to the Tennessee Public Records Act. The Knoxville News Sentinel and The Commercial Appeal requested correspondence dating back to September 2014 of Greg Adams relating to the controversial outsourcing plan. Haslam's office has been considering the plan since November, but news of it did not become public until Aug. 17 when a "request for information" from potential vendors was posted on the state procurement office website. The released correspondence offered new insight into the governor's office response to the [...]

Read More
16 Oct, 2015

AP: Haslam defends recommendation for advisers to avoid email

By |2021-12-28T11:18:20-06:00October 16, 2015|Categories: deliberative process privilege, email|Tags: , , , |0 Comments

Another story on government email from Erik Schelzig with the Associated Press: NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - Gov. Bill Haslam is defending a practice among his outsourcing advisers to avoid email correspondence to prevent information getting out to the public. The Republican governor told reporters after an economic development conference this week that it's a standard practice of "sharing some wisdom" with new employees who have come to government from the private sector that all of their correspondence is subject to Tennessee's open records laws. "Any government that comes into office, the very first day they say, careful what you put in that email, because unless you want to see it [...]

Read More
18 Nov, 2013

Deliberative process privilege danger to open government

By |2021-12-28T11:16:01-06:00November 18, 2013|Categories: deliberative process privilege|Tags: , , , |1 Comment

Court of Appeals judges are (seated from left), David R. Farmer, Patricia J. Cottrell, Charles D. Susano, Jr., Alan E. Highers, John Westley McClarty; (standing from left) J. Steven Stafford, Richard H. Dinkins, Thomas R. Frierson, II, Andy D. Bennett, Frank G. Clement, D. Michael Swiney, and Holly M. Kirby. From the Knoxville News-Sentinel:  A recent Tennessee appeals court ruling explicitly established for the first time an exemption to the state’s Public Records Act for documents used by “high officials” in developing policy. The broadly written ruling could allow any government official to refuse to release just about any document to a citizen seeking to review them. The [...]

Read More
Go to Top