Lafayette news outlets sue Josh Guillory over fees for government documents

Two Lafayette news outlets have sued Mayor-President Josh Guillory over a new fee for public records that Guillory established without public notice or input in recent weeks that they say he is using to punish them "due to his opinions about their coverage of his administration."

Filed Monday, the lawsuit by non-profit news site The Current and The Acadiana Advocate newspaper calls Guillory's recently implemented $1-per-page fee for electronic public records "an egregious and intentional abuse of the Public Records Law."

"Instead of hiding records or destroying them, Defendant Guillory has decided to make it as difficult as possible for the public to review and copy records so as to ensure that there is no questioning of his administration," the suit reads.

A recent change in state law has allowed Guillory's administration to charge the public for “electronic transmission” of public records. In the past, LCG has not charged for electronic records.

Guillory has falsely said the law change required LCG to charge $1-per-page, but the law only authorizes local government to "collect reasonable fees" and does not require them to charge at all. He has also said that news outlets should be charged $100 per page because they use public records to "pry and pry and make up things."

"That's just my opinion. That's not a fact," he added.

But Guillory recently implemented a new $1 per page charge to deliver any digital public records without approval from Lafayette's city and parish councils, a likely violation of Lafayette's Home Rule Charter.

Public records are critical tools for ensuring transparency in local government. Accessing them is a constitutional right in Louisiana, and raising the cost to do so could threaten local government accountability.

The Current in particular has frequently used public records to report on issues with the Guillory administration’s handling of drainage projects and the mayor-president's schemes to bolster his income in recent months. 

In February, The Daily Advertiser and the Current sued Josh Guillory's administration over another public records issue, when LCG refused to produce the results of its investigation into a sexual harassment allegation against former Lafayette Police Chief Wayne Griffin. A judge ruled in the media's favor in that case, but only released a heavily-redacted version of the investigation report. An appeal is underway.

The Current has faced hundreds of dollars in bills from LCG for public records just in the past month, according to the lawsuit, which argues that Guillory is using the new fees to "punish the (news outlets) due to his opinions about their coverage of his administration."

On Friday, The Current launched a crowdfunding campaign to pay for its legal challenge of Guillory's new public records fee, which garnered $1,500 within an hour and totaled $7,000 over the weekend.

The news outlets are asking Lafayette Judge Marilyn Castle to stop LCG from "charging an unreasonable fee for public records" and fine Guillory $100 per day for withholding the records with his paywall, in accordance with state law.

LCG spokesperson Jamie Angelle deferred to City-Parish Attorney Greg Logan, who declined to comment Monday. A date has not yet been set for a hearing in the matter.

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Daily Advertiser: Lafayette news orgs sue Josh Guillory over new public records charges