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MARCH 2012
State considers ‘co-mediation’ in records suits
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The Associated Press
Moving time again: WNPA boxes it up to begin home-based operations as of March 1.
WNPA’s offices have rolled with times
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he Washington Press Association and its successor, Washington Newspaper Publishers Association, have occupied fewer than a half dozen offices in its nearly 125-year history. In the early years the work of the association and the University of Washington printing and journalism departments intermingled, and WPA had a physical presence on the campus. While it’s likely the campus office space changed from time to time, the association was a fixture on campus for many decades. The move away from campus, as Jerry Zubrod, former executive director of WNPA, described it in the November 1986 Washington Newspaper, was prompted by a new venture and campus changes. The association started the WNPA Press Clipping Service in February 1964 and soon needed more space than was available to WNPA in the
UW Communications Building. Coincidentally in the mid-1960s, the UW needed additional room, and private businesses found it difficult to justify occupying muchneeded space on the public campus. In April 1964 the association moved to 4519A University Way and began what Zubrod described as an upward struggle to expand the clipping service into the turf long held
Here’s a kicker: Seattle Times puts up ticker
New technology powers the Seattle Times’ oldstyle news ticker overlooking Denny Way in Seattle.
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he Seattle Times’ new electronic ticker lit up the morning of Feb. 27, announcing up-to-the-minute headlines to drivers and pedestrians as they headed up Denny Way. “Police force’s turmoil unnerves Bainbridge Island residents” was the first of many headlines to appear on the device, which is 44 feet long. It is attached to the side of the building at 1000 Denny Way, the newspaper’s new headquarters. The idea for the ticker came about as company leaders worked to come up with a way to brand the building, “in a manner that helps people know this is the Seattle Times, and it is the leading news and information source in the state,” said Jill
by Allen’s Press Clipping Service. To obtain more space WNPA moved in June 1969 to the 3838 Stone Way office in Seattle’s Wallingford neighborhood, and stayed put for about 40 years. The clipping service operated there until October 1986, when it was sold to Allen’s. In 2004, the WNPA board made plans for another new venture. To accommodate it, in July WNPA moved to larger offices at 1434 Elliott Ave. W., in the Interbay area of Seattle. Those plans changed, eliminating the need for the additional space that was well met by the Lake City offices WNPA has occupied since July 2006. Effective March 1, 2012, the staff will be working from home offices. Members will be advised of a new mailing address in future. Meanwhile, the phone remains the same, (206) 634-3838, and the fax has changed to (888) 673-6209.
Mike Siegel/ Seattle Times
Mackie, company spokeswoman. The idea, Mackie said, was to use the building itself to convey “we’re a media company that delivers news round-the-clock.” While the notion of a news ticker is somewhat retro, that was also part of the appeal. “In embracing the future,” Mackie said, “we’re also very much grounded in our history.” The technology that powers the de-
vice is decidedly of the 21st century. According to Eric Ulken, assistant managing editor of seattletimes.com, the headlines that appear on the ticker are drawn from top stories on the homepage. As news develops throughout the day, the stories on the ticker will change automatically, via RSS feed, he said. It is located on the southwest corner of the building.
recent increase in large payouts from public records disputes has some in state government considering new ways to avoid costly and drawn-out court battles. One idea being considered by Attorney General Rob McKenna is a proposal put together by two well-known public records attorneys to “co-mediate.” While singleperson mediation already exists and is used in some state cases, the idea of co-mediation allows for two mediators, both well-steeped in public records laws – one who represents the requester and another to represent the agency or local government. Greg Overstreet, an Olympia attorney specializing in media and disclosure law, said he first thought of the idea of offering co-mediation services late last year. The Greg largest public records lawOverstreet suit award was in December, when a Pierce County judge ordered the Department of Social and Health Services to pay a record $649,896 to an Elma woman who sued the agency for withholding records. The state is appealing the case. Overstreet said that while co-mediation might not work in all cases, it could offer a better chance to get people to the table in the first place. “The problem has been the difficulty of finding a single mediator who is trusted by both sides,” he said. “The other problem is finding a mediator who knows the public records act and the nuts and bolts of how the public records process works in real life.” Overstreet, who regularly represents records requesters in disputes, reached out to Ramsey Ramerman, president of the Washington Association of Public Records Officers who has assisted agencies on public records issues. They’ve since formed Open-Government Mediations and Training, and have pitched their idea to the state. “We have a common goal,” Ramerman said. “We want to resolve the dispute, get the records, save money and build trust. All the sides want the same thing.” McKenna noted that his office already has an ombudsman that informally tries to mediate in some cases, and that single mediators have been used in other cases. But he said he’s told his office to find a case that could potentially be a pilot test case for Overstreet and Ramerman. “I’m curious to see whether or not there are advantages,” McKenna said. “I’m interested enough to want to move forward and test it, if we can find a right case.” Gov. Chris Gregoire might be interested as well. “With the high costs of these cases, certainly anything to get at that is intriguing,” said Cory Curtis, a spokesman for the governor. Under state law, agencies and local governments can face fines of up to $100 a day for failing to turn over records. But the biggest cost driver, Overstreet said, is attorney’s fees. “If mediation starts at the beginning of a case, it could prevent some of these judgments that are for tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of dollars,” Overstreet said. “There’s some really difficult, contentious cases out there, and if public records lawsuits aren’t settled quickly, they can balloon out of control on costs.” Prison inmates make up more than 60 percent of the litigation cases, according to McKenna’s office. In 2009, a new law was passed intended to block prisoners from using public records laws to harass state agencies and employees. The measure was in response, in part, to Allan Parmelee, who is serving 17 years for bombing the cars of two attorneys. Parmelee has filed hundreds of requests and won thousands of dollars in penalties in cases where the Department of Corrections fought his requests. Another bill passed last year prevents any penalties from being awarded to prisoners unless a court finds that an agency acted in bad faith.