This is the twenty-sixth post in an ongoing series as we file Missouri Sunshine Law (RSMo 610) requests and investigate the non-renewal of the contract of University of Central Missouri President Aaron Podolefsky. Links to previous coverage are below the fold. BG and MB
We were curious about who recommended the appointments of the four University of Central Missouri Board members who voted not to renew President Aaron Podolefsky's contract. Matt Blunt was Governor of Missouri at the time of these appointments. We sent a Missouri Sunshine Law request to the university's "Custodian of Records":
[....]
date:Thu, Oct 22, 2009 at 12:48 PM
subject:Sunshine request
Please provide the following documents under RSMo 610:
The packets of information for appointment to the Board of Governors which include resumes and letters of recommendation for the following members of the University of Central Missouri, previously known as Central Missouri State University:
Pursuant to your request of October 22, 2009, attached are the appointment letters and resumes of UCM Board members Weldon Brady, Walter Hicklin, Richard Phillips, and Edward Baker as provided by the Governor's Office.
[....]
Custodian of Records
[....]
We didn't get letters of reference, but we did get the appointment letters (in the case of Richard Phillips, his commission letter) and resumes. The documents for three of the board members had fax headers at the top of each page.
Fax header from the appointment documentation for Richard Phillips to the University of Central Missouri Board of Governors sent to the university from Governor Matt Blunt's office in 2005.
Fax header from the appointment documentation for Edward Baker to the University of Central Missouri Board of Governors sent to the university from Governor Matt Blunt's office in 2007.
Fax header from the appointment documentation for Walter Hicklin to the University of Central Missouri Board of Governors sent to the university from Governor Matt Blunt's office in 2007.
The documentation for board member Weldon Brady did not have fax headers.
Well, no problem we reasoned, the appointments were made by then Missouri Governor Matt Blunt, so we could probably ask the current governor's office for copies of any original letters of reference or recommendations for those individuals:
This is the twenty-fourth post in an ongoing series as we file Missouri Sunshine Law (RSMo 610) requests and investigate the non-renewal of the contract of University of Central Missouri President Aaron Podolefsky. Links to previous coverage are below the fold. BG and MB
There is a law. In Missouri the so-called "Missouri Sunshine Law" (RSMo 610) is about open public records and is designed to promote transparency and accountability when it comes to public entities.
In the process we address our requests for information of the University of Central Missouri to their designated "Custodian of Records".
One of the curious issues we had heard about prompted questions concerning the bond for the football stadium. We made a request for documents:
[....]
Sent: Fri, October 30, 2009 3:07:49 PM
Subject: request for information under RSMo 610
I am requesting the following information under RSMo 610:
1) A copy of the original bond document(s) for Audrey Walton Stadium.
2) A copy of any subsequent bond document(s) for Audrey Walton Stadium.
3) The list of names of the current holders of each of the "luxury suites" (individuals or entities who have made payments as required to hold such suites).
4) Document(s) showing the amounts and dates of each payment for each luxury suite from 1995 to present.
5) Document(s) showing the amounts, payments, and dates of payments toward the bond(s) and/or other University account(s) from the luxury suite payments from 1995 to present referred to in (4) above.
Please provide an estimate of the cost of the charges for providing this information under RSMo 610.026.
Thank you
[....]
[....]
Sent: Wed, November 4, 2009 11:53:38 AM
Subject: Re: request for information under RSMo 610
[....]
The cost for researching and producing the requested information in your October 30, 2009, e-mail is $501.86. Please advise if you wish to receive this information. If so, it will be made available to you upon receipt of payment.
Sincerely,
[....]
Okay. That's pricey. We asked for an explanation of the costs:
[....]11/5/2009 3:21 PM >>>
[....]
Thank you for your response of November 4, 2009 to my October 30, 2009 request under RSMo 610. Concerning the following, please provide an explanation/breakdown of the estimated clerical/copying costs for each of the five portions of the original request below (for the total estimated charges of $501.86 you provided in your response):
1) A copy of the original bond document(s)for Audrey Walton Stadium.
2) A copy of any subsequent bond document(s) for Audrey Walton Stadium.
3) The list of names of the current holders of each of the "luxury suites" (individuals or entities who have made payments as required to hold such suites).
4) Document(s) showing the amounts and dates of each payment for each luxury suite from 1995 to present.
5) Document(s) showing the amounts, payments, and dates of payments toward the bond(s) and/or other University account(s) from the luxury suite payments from 1995 to present referred to in (4) above.
Thank you
[....]
And we got this response and an attached spreadsheet:
[....]
Sent: Thu, November 5, 2009 4:07:32 PM
Subject: Re: request for information under RSMo 610
[....]
As shown in the attached document, fulfilling your "request" of October 30, 2009, requires much more than copying documents. The cost for fulfilling this request is $501.86. Please advise if you wish to receive this information. If so, it will be made available to you after receipt of payment.
Sincerely,
[....]
Notice that we didn't get the specific breakdown of the costs associated with each of the distinct portions of the request. I mean, really, how much does it take to copy the bond documents. Or provide us with a list of the luxury suite holders?
Yeah, we're gonna try to get the information from this piece of the puzzle. It may take us a little while, but we'll get the information.
A response to a Missouri Sunshine Law request can tell you a lot if you ask the right questions, even if you don't get a direct answer. Witness this exchange about a closed Board of Governors meeting in December 2008:
In today's issue there is an AP story regarding the University of Central Missouri president and comments of treatment of his family by our community; his outstanding accomplishments and how well liked he is by a majority of tenured professors; and the unfairness of not having his contract renewed...
...They have voted not to renew President Podolefsky's contract. They have no obligation to explain their votes to this newspaper, university staff or the general public. While I don't necessarily agree with this policy in its entirety, it is simply the bottom line.
- Wm. James
Well Mr. James, maybe you'd think differently if you actually filed a few more Missouri Sunshine Law requests instead of listening to someone else's whispered conventional wisdom about what masquerades as acceptable public policy.
Irony impairment indeed.
Also in today's edition, front page above the fold, was an Associated Press article on the Aaron Podolefsky story - quoting me, apparently from the interview I did with KSHB-TV.
Another irony. It's a difficult and convoluted process to get permission from the Associated Press to quote myself from their article quoting something I wrote here. You'll just have to settle for the original:
....Michael Bersin: I think that's really the issue, is that people are mystified by this....
....Michael Bersin: And, the, the point is that it shouldn't be a mystery. Because we're the university community, the entire university community is owed an explanation by this board....
Our previous coverage of the non-renewal of the contract of University of Central Missouri President Aaron Podolefsky:
This afternoon we received a response to one of our Missouri Sunshine Law requests concerning any authorization by the Board of Governors for signing the contract to broadcast University of Central Missouri athletic events.
[...]Sent: Fri, October 23, 2009 1:40:35 PM
Subject: Re: Request for information under RSMo610
[...]In response to your request of October 21, 2009, no written authorization was required.
[...]
>>> [...] 10/21/2009 2:51 PM >>>
Please provide the following under RSMo 610:
Authorization from the board of governors for the Athletic Director to sign a multi-year contract with KOKO.
If so, did the authorization exist at the time the contract was made, or was it authorized after-the-fact?
[....]
[emphasis added]
We didn't ask if authorization was required, we asked if there was any authorization.
That's very interesting, considering the first response:
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) - Gov. Matt Blunt's office will turn over thousands of pages of e-mails to inspectors for the state attorney general's office to settle a lawsuit accusing Blunt and other officials of "knowingly and purposely" violating the state's open records law, the two sides announced Tuesday.
Under the deal, Blunt's office must turn over e-mails from the accounts of the outgoing Republican governor and five staffers from a three-month period in 2007. The same e-mail records were released last month to news organizations that had joined the lawsuit against the governor's office to pursue independent open-record requests.
In exchange for the e-mails, the special investigators agreed they wouldn't refile the lawsuit.
Blunt admitted to no wrongdoing...
[emphasis added]
That reads to me like some sort of legal impasse was resolved - the special investigators got what they wanted.
And then there's spin. The office of Missouri Governor Matt "baby" Blunt issued this press release:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Contact: Jessica Robinson...
JEFFERSON CITY - Gov. Matt Blunt's office was proven correct today after thirteen months of false accusations initiated by an e-mail team created by Jay Nixon. Gov. Blunt, who was never questioned in the case, received the strongest possible dismissal making it clear that these false accusations can never be made against him again.
In addition to the governor, all four public servants in the Blunt administration who were falsely accused by Jay Nixon's e-mail team have also been dismissed and vindicated. This 13 month long political campaign over e-mail has cost Missouri taxpayers more than $600,000.
"Finally, after making false accusation after false accusation and wasting hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars, the e-mail team brings this political case to a conclusion two days before Christmas," said Gov. Blunt's spokeswoman Jessica Robinson. "After falsely accusing many the only real outcome is that the governor's office was telling the truth. This agreement comes just as the office was seeking to question an official in the Attorney General's office over his destruction of e-mails. One can see why they would be embarrassed by the result of their 13 month long legal fiasco and would seek to bury the story during the week of Christmas."...
In today's Kansas City Star their resident political stenographer finally notices [tiny URL] that something is afoot with this e-mail thingy plaguing the "baby" Blunt Administration:
...There's only one option left for Gov. Matt Blunt....
That's a major staff shake-up that includes the ouster of his pedal-always-to-the-metal chief of staff, Ed Martin.
Only a move that dramatic, that far-reaching, will help Blunt shake off the aftertaste of a miserable month that has left his administration facing a probable lawsuit from a fired staff lawyer and a special investigator nipping at its heels.
This flare-up, of course, could hardly come at a more inopportune time....
...Democrat Jay Nixon is facing Republican charges that he broke the law by using his taxpayer-funded car for his political campaign.
Republican incumbent Matt Blunt is up to his nostrils in the Scott Eckersley caper. Eckersley is a former Blunt administration lawyer who was fired Sept. 28. Democrats and Republicans are in unison on that much....
