deliberative process privilege Archives - Tennessee Coalition for Open Government

5 Jan, 2023

Judge puts the brakes on state’s use of deliberative process privilege
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Judge puts the brakes on state’s use of deliberative process privilege

deliberative process privilege, public records lawsuits Tennessee

Judge puts the brakes on state’s use of deliberative process privilege

By Deborah Fisher|2023-01-05T14:50:58-06:00January 5, 2023|Categories: deliberative process privilege, public records lawsuits Tennessee|Tags: Chancellor Patricia Moskal, consultant's report, deliberative process privilege, Deputy Attorney General Janet Kleinfelter, Paul McAdoo, Stephen Elliott|0 Comments

Davidson County Chancellor Pat Moskal ruled that the state could not withhold consultant reports by McKinsey and Co. under a deliberative process privilege in the face of a public records request. She said the reports were a one-way communication with state officials and did not fall under a deliberative process privilege because they were not "deliberative" and did not consist of communications between high-level government officials. The ruling is a win for journalist Stephen Elliott, who began requesting the reports in 2020.

28 Jan, 2022

AG tells judge COVID-19 reports should be withheld to avoid ‘Monday-morning quarterbacking’

By Deborah Fisher|2022-01-28T19:06:29-06:00January 28, 2022|Categories: deliberative process privilege, public records lawsuits Tennessee|Tags: Chancellor Patricia Moskal, deliberative process privilege, Deputy Attorney General Janet Kleinfelter, Local Legal Initiative, Paul McAdoo, Stephen Elliott|0 Comments

The deputy attorney general for Tennessee argued in court this week that reports by consultant McKinsey and Co. regarding the re-opening of Tennessee and other government responses during the COVID-19 pandemic are exempt from the public records law because revealing them would open up the executive branch to second-guessing by the public.

5 Jan, 2022

Nashville Post journalist files public records lawsuit over state’s McKinsey reports

By Deborah Fisher|2022-01-10T12:05:08-06:00January 5, 2022|Categories: deliberative process privilege, public records lawsuits Tennessee|Tags: deliberative process privilege, Gov. Bill Lee, Paul McAdoo, Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, Stephen Elliott, Swift v. Campbell, Thomas Wesley|1 Comment

In the second public records lawsuit against Gov. Bill Lee's administration in a matter of weeks, Nashville Post journalist Stephen Elliott says that the administration's claim of a "deliberative process privilege" to keep secret a consultant's reports during the COVID-19 pandemic has no basis in state law.

27 Dec, 2021

Lawsuit challenges use of deliberative process privilege to keep McKinsey report secret

By Deborah Fisher|2021-12-28T11:20:32-06:00December 27, 2021|Categories: deliberative process privilege, Public Records, public records lawsuits Tennessee|Tags: deliberative process privilege, Department of Human Resources, McKinsey and Co., Ron Harris, Thomas Wesley|1 Comment

A Nashville citizen has sued the state for refusing to release a government efficiency report prepared by an outside consultant in connection with the state's COVID-19 response. The state's Department of Human Resources claims the analysis by McKinsey and Co. is confidential because it is subject to the "deliberative process privilege" and contains information related to "operational vulnerabilities." The Tennessean has reported the McKinsey analysis, delivered in September 2020, cost the state $1.59 million in taxpayer dollars.

6 Sep, 2019

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

By Deborah Fisher|2019-09-06T17:41:25-05:00September 6, 2019|Categories: deliberative process privilege, Public Records, Tennessee Coalition for Open Government|Tags: deliberative process privilege, Gov. Bill Lee|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 [...]