The Town Talk: The Trees Versus the Forest
Throughout the past two weeks, the Town Talk has been in a fit over the Alexandria City Government’s refusal to release the details of a report analyzing leaks at the Coughlin-Saunders Performing Arts Center.
Today, they published an editorial instructing Mayor-elect Jacques Roy to release the report once he assumes office on December 4th, claiming that in doing so, Roy will be keeping his promise of government transparency.
According to City Attorney Kelvin Sanders and Mayor-elect Roy (both of whom have read the report), the report contains sensitive information that may need to be used in potential future litigation. Releasing the information to the public, before the City has had an opportunity to build and present its case, may put the City at a strategic disadvantage. And considering it is the obligation of the City to collect any potential damages owed to taxpayers, it follows that prematurely sharing critical information and the “mental impressions” of an expert, would put taxpayers at a disadvantage as well.
But the Town Talk is not having any of it. The fact that Roy has read parts of this report, they argue, means that the public also has the right to read it– because Roy hasn’t yet taken office, they claim, he’s still a private citizen.
I’m not sure who the Town Talk relied on for legal advice, but it seems they’re a little confused. (And I have on good word that this misconception will be cleared up in the very near future).
Let’s think about this on a very basic level: Next November, Americans will be electing a new President. Between November 2007 and January 2008, our next President-elect will be thoroughly briefed on a host of confidential and proprietary issues, including, among other things, security and emergency management procedures.
Would the Town Talk argue that our next President-elect should not be able to review confidential information unless said information was declassified and made public beforehand? Certainly not. The President-elect, like our Mayor-elect, is, in fact, a public official, and even though the hyphenated “elect” follows his title, it’s still an official title.
To further exercise their bully pulpit, the Town Talk claims that by not releasing the report, Mayor-elect Roy would be breaking his promise of “transparency,” and they direct readers to his website, where they may find information on Roy’s positions concerning government accountability and transparency.
The notion of transparency, as was mentioned numerous times by numerous people throughout the campaign, means that government should be held accountable for their decisions. It means that back room consulting contracts must be brought into the public light. It means that the public has a right to know how the government is spending their tax dollars. It means the government has an obligation to operate ethically.
It does not mean, however, that the Town Talk has the right to print sensitive information that may be used in litigation. That is precisely why Louisiana has an exception to public records requests. Perhaps this exception has been used loosely in the past, but in this case, it seems that the City Attorney, the Mayor, and the Mayor-elect (all of whom have degrees in law) are acting judiciously, believing that, based on the information they have read and analyzed, it would compromise the City’s ability to pursue litigation if the full report was leaked (pardon the pun).
It is healthy and necessary to continually question whether or not the government is acting in the best interest of the public, but in this instance, the Town Talk has attempted to pursue a story without considering the consequences.
CenLamar 
lmar,
Good analysis of the situation. I think the TT is just pissed because their request was denied. Making this even more complicated is the fact that the Architect and Prime Contractor were both major contributors to various mayoral candidates. Another interesting fact is that Harold Chambers tried to make all this go away when the defects were first discovered. Had it not been for Rick Ranson and Delores Brewer insisting on an investigation it may have never seen the light of day.
Lamar, You don’t have some rose colored glasses on do you,just because you are one of Roy’s “team” members?
As a frequent user of CSPAC, I would like to see the staff there given a “heads up” report as to whether required repairs will impede the functioning of the facility. It was bad enough not having vehicular access to the entrance for months, due to the street improvement project. I hate to think of a need to black out any dates or, God forbid, shut the doors for a time.
In anticipation that our Mayor-elect follows your blog, I ask this question: can some information be disseminated to inform CSPAC employees and users what impact the required repairs will have? If that is not yet determined, then tell us. I think the bottom line is that we all want this facility serving our community now and in the future, so repairs need to be designed and undertaken in an efficient manner. We might have had a beautifully refurbished Paramount Theater downtown if rudimentary repairs to the roof had been done in a timely fashion. Let’s see that our newest theater for the performing arts does not decline while the legal battles over responsibilty play out.
Lamar, I completely agree with your arguments about not releasing the info. You just knew when Jacques reiterated the “transparency” theme of his campaign he would have to face this kind of feedback. Quite simply, what would the “public” want transparent which could possibly hurt them in ths future. The TT must use common sense.
Lamar,
Excellent analysis. Yes, the public has the right to know, but not at the risk of placing the lawsuit in jeopardy. I really don’t hear a big public outcry demanding that information be released. The TT reminds me of a spoiled child that can not get it’s way!
Lamar,
Excellent analysis. Yes, the public has the right to know, but not at the risk of placing the lawsuit in jeopardy. I really don’t hear a big public outcry demanding that information be released. The TT reminds me of a spoiled child that can not get it’s way!
A spoiled child … and one who makes spelling and grammatical errors consistently.
Hmmm, I can remember as a child, we always looked up to journalists for their expertise. Town Talk journalists can barely write complete sentences.
Anonymous #7 Do you remember their “She Was Hot” or their Survival winner “headlines” from several years ago? The old Town Talk never put sports on the front page either.
why is the leak report needed to be kept confidential when all the cleco contract info litigation must be made public? Consistency is not the strong suit here and it may have much to do with ratcliff on the transition team. looks like the same old stuff to me. Has anyone checked into how much illegal immigrant labor was used on that project? jobs that could have been used by the less-advantaged citizens of this community. This stinks and the town talk is either right on this or wrong on cleco.
3:27 are you saying that if hispanics were used on the job they have to be illegal? Do you know this for a fact? Are you just assuming every hispanic person in this country is here illegally? If so you need to pack your crap and go spend some time across the border yourself, you’d want to come back home. Not every hispanic person or in case you don’t know what that is someone who speaks spanish is in this country illegal. Many of them come here legally. They are here to make a better life for themselves and want to become citizens. The fact that it takes 10 years from the time they declare they want to be citizens until they can take the oath is ridiculous. Comments like yours send out city back into the 60s when the men in white sheets would ride through the countryside and light fires – grow up.
Lamar
I knew you would post something in response to that article. I tried to respond to it on the TT “story chat” but for some reason, it won’t ever let me. Maybe it somehow knows that I will always disagree and they want to prevent getting nailed on their own website all the time.
Anyway, I completely agree with you. Putting the contents of the report in the hands of the responsible party could only harm the city. If the city can prevail in a lawsuit with the construction company at fault, it only saves the taxpayers from having to fund the repairs. If the TT wants to use editorials to make demands on behalf of the taxpayers, perhaps they should run one of their awesome, always 100% correct polls for a week to find out what the taxpayers think.
I said nothing about hispanics who work their butts off in this country. i just asked a simple question…how much illegal immigrant labor is being used on public or quasi public projects. i think” the lady doth protest too much.”
your smear comments assume anyone who asks a question on a topic that may derive an answer not to your liking is an ignorant bigot. Oh yeah, i have been south of the border and believe immigration is one of the answers to many of this country’s long term economic problems. i only ask the question….how much illegal immigrant labor is being used in substitute for disadvantaged local labor. if the answer is none, then it is none. If the answer is a lot, then local contractors are lining their pockets with the benefits. You have been paying too much attention to the Karl rove style of dialogue.
People need to stop playing the race card. It’s over, stop trying to hate on good people to advance your cause just because you can. Grow up and blame yourself. It’s your fault if you are not a success, not another race’s fault.
Sole, you are 100% dead on brother.
Can we have some openness in Goverment please??