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The Arizona Press Club's annual "Brick Wall Award" is reserved for public officials and institutions that brazenly ignore the duty to disclose public information. The award's aim is to raise awareness of public-records abuses that persist across the state.
This year's Brick Wall Award goes to Karen Wittmer, publisher of Tribune Newspapers, and her fellow members of the Governor's Stadium Task Force.
In its first meeting last November, Gov. Jane Dee Hull's Stadium Task Force huddled behind closed doors to consider using the public treasury to build a new football stadium for the Arizona Cardinals.
Though the task force clearly was a public body, its 35 members -- mostly drawn from the local business community -- were used to doing deals in the privacy of the boardroom. The group hoped to avoid the sunshine of open meetings, claiming it might inhibit frank discussions. Not only did it hold that first meeting behind closed doors, it announced afterward that future meetings would be closed, too.
Eventually, those doors were opened after The Arizona Republic and the Associated Press threatened to sue. But there was one member of the task force who should have stood up against the abuse of Arizona's Open Meetings Law: Karen Wittmer, publisher of Tribune Newspapers (including the East Valley Tribune, Scottsdale Tribune, Daily News-Sun, Yuma Daily Sun and Ahwatukee Foothill News). Instead, Wittmer reportedly voted with the others to ban the public and the press -- including one of her own reporters, who was waiting just outside the meeting room door.
At the very least, Wittmer might have been expected as a member of the fourth estate to register her opposition and excuse herself from voting. Instead she sided with those who favored secrecy.
Members of Governor's Stadium Task Force include:
In the first round of AIMS (Arizona's Instrument to Measure Standards) testing, nearly 90 percent of last year's 10th-graders flunked the math portion. (In the test's other two portions, writing and reading, about 70 percent and 40 percent flunked, respectively.)
When the press requested copies of AIMS the test after it was administered last spring, Keegan imposed a one-hour time limit for viewing the examination that took students nine hours to take. She refused to provide a copy, even though state law requires that public records be open for inspection and copying during business hours. To make matters worse, the Arizona Department of Education's viewing policy requires anyone who looks at the test to sign a non-disclosure waiver.
Keegan eventually expanded the viewing time, but kept the waiver, which essentially prohibits a parent with a question about his or her child's test from seeking an expert opinion about it. Unless, of course, that opinion comes from the state Department of Education, which of course is loathe to admit the test may be flawed. The department has persisted in refusing to provide a copy of the test, even though it was taken by some 45,000 to 50,000 students last spring.
Keegan's contention is that if any portion of the test becomes public - even after it has been taken - the state won't be able to recycle various questions. As if kids who've already taken it haven't already discussed those questions with their friends.
In her deposition, Keegan states that if the questions are compromised, the state will be forced to come up with a new test each year. She doesn't know how much that will cost, but she's suggested it's in the millions. States like Colorado, New York, Texas and Ohio make their tests available each year, and they don't think they're compromised.
In an effort to further open the AIMS test for public inspection, The Arizona Republic has filed a lawsuit against Keegan. At press time, the next hearing was set for early April.
First runner-up for "Brick Wall" dis-honors goes to Lisa Graham Keegan, Arizona's Superintendent of Public Instruction, who has stated publicly that the reason she refused to obey the state's public records access law in regards to the AIMS test is that it would cost too much.
PAST WINNERS OF THE BRICK WALL AWARD
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