EDITORIAL: More cloud than silver lining in court ruling

Jun. 29—There's more cloud than silver lining coming out of Jefferson City during this, the 50th anniversary of the Missouri Sunshine Law.

The Silver Lining: A judge has ordered the state to pay more than $240,000 in legal fees as part of a ruling that found the attorney general's office "knowingly and purposefully" violated the state's open records law while it was being run by now-U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley. This follows last year's ruling by a Cole County Judge that determined the attorney general's office took steps to conceal emails between former AG Josh Hawley's taxpayer-funded staff and his political consultants during his 2018 campaign for U.S. Senate. The Missouri Independent reported: "The motivation for breaking the law, the judge concluded, was concern that releasing the records could harm Hawley's campaign."

So there was a time when breaking the law would hurt a campaign ... ah, the good ol' days!

Now the Cloud: Taxpayers will get stuck with this bill.

It has been suggested that Hawley pay it. Yeah!

Is there a snowball's chance of that happening? Nope!

More Clouds: This is the same AG's office that is supposed to be on the side of the Sunshine Law. Another big nope.

It gets cloudier still, including:

—A 2020 ruling that found the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services concocted what a judge characterized as a "secret" and "devious" plan to thwart the Sunshine Law, which protects public access to records and meetings.

"It's hard to imagine a more purposeful plot," the judge wrote, adding that DHSS showed "utter disdain for public policy."

The judge fined the agency $12,000 for multiple violations of state law and ordered it — meaning taxpayers again — to pay $150,000 in legal fees.

—The use of self-destruct apps, such as Confide, by public officials. These apps destroy an electronic record soon after it is created and keep it from being forwarded or copied, allowing officials to claim they have no record.

—The persecution by Gov. Mike Parson of a St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter who discovered that Social Security numbers for teachers, administrators and counselors were visible on of a publicly accessible site operated by the Missouri Department of Elementary and Second Education.

The newspaper held off on publishing the information and notified the state — the right thing to do. For that, Parson attacked the reporter, accusing him of "hacking," and wanted him prosecuted, despite numerous computer experts and even the FBI explaining that what the reporter did in no way constituted a hack. Post-Dispatch Publisher Ian Caso said in a statement at the time: "The accusations against our reporter were unfounded and made to deflect embarrassment for the state's failures and for political purposes."

This is not just cloud cover, this is a climate crisis — a climate of indifference, even hostility to the Sunshine Law.

Long-time Jefferson City correspondent Phill Brooks has recommended removing enforcement of Sunshine Law violations from the state attorney general to address conflicts of interest and issues of political protection.

One alternative he suggested for enforcement is the Missouri Ethics Commission. Another would be to create a bipartisan board with subpoena powers to monitor Sunshine Law compliance.

Yep. That would be golden.