INVESTIGATION: AG Rosenblum and Meeker’s Ownership in Willamette Week is a Tangled Web
Wednesday, September 23, 2015
This is the first in a multi-piece series on the relationship between the business interests and the Department of Justice in Oregon.
In some cases, Meeker’s Willamette Week received favoritism and in other cases his company benefitted economically by avoiding paying costs that other news organizations, the public, inmates and attorneys were requested to pay for preparing documents.
Free Ride on Records Requests
Starting in March 2015, GoLocalPDX requested emails between Attorney General Rosenblum and her government staff relative to communication between Rosenblum’s husband, the then-publisher of Willamette Week, and the staff of the paper.
In addition, GoLocal requested a series of other documents including how much Rosenblum’s office requested in payments for public information requests.
Since Rosenblum became Attorney General, her office has demanded over $129,000 in fees from news organizations, community groups, an inmate, attorneys and the general public when they request documents under Oregon’s Freedom of Information Act.
GoLocalPDX repeatedly requested to interview Rosenblum and those requests were denied.
In addition, in reviewing more than 1,000 emails and thousands of pages of communications between the staff of Meeker's company and Rosenblum's staff, more than 50 times reporters at Willamette Week avoided the FOIA by making the request directly to staff.
The relationship was often friendly. In one email between then-Rosenblum public relations official, Jeff Manning and Willamette Week’s Nigel Jaquiss, Manning congratulates on the paper’s story on Jefferson Smith unveiling a confrontation he had -- read below.
Hey Nigel,
Really interesting story from Mesh on Stimson and the Oregon Transformation Project. I love their website. Those guys are so compassionate about the plight of the little guy.
And congrats again on the Jefferson scoop. Shaking things up as always.
I need to ask you about two of your public records requests.
One was for the worst deadbeat parents in Oregon. The other was for anything we had on the dismissal of Riddell's bar complaint.
I had given you a head's up that the odds of us releasing anything on the first was slim to none. And I don't know that we have much of anything from OSB on the second.
Do you want to go forward with these requests? The people who process these requests need to know.
Thanks,
Jeff
Prior to serving as Rosenblum’s spokesperson, Manning was an investigative reporter at the Oregonian. He returned to the paper after on year on Rosenblum's staff.
Similarly, an email from reporter Kate Wilson of Willamette Week to Kristina Edmundson, Communications Director for Rosenblum, asked for a range of documents directly by-passing the formal request process. In the middle of Wilson’s request for documents for her story is an invite to the Attorney General’s spokesperson to come to the annual block party hosted by Willamette Week. She also mentions that her boss (Richard Meeker) surely invited Edmundson's boss (Rosenblum) -- a gentle reminder of the relationship between the company and the Attorney General's Office.
Happy Thursday, Kristina. I’m so glad you’ll be able to come to the block party. I imagine Rosenblum will have been invited by our boss, and of course we hope to see her there as well.
Can you help me with the following records:
Rosenblum’s Calendar going back to the date of hire, which I think was June, 2012.
Screenshots of her email Outlook folders and subfolders
A list of all employees who have left the agency since July 1, 2012
A list of the claims filed against the agency (This might be big, so I’m happy to figure out a manageable way to narrow this)
Cheers!
Kate Willson, reporter
Willamette Week
Office: 503-445-1538
Cell: 503-410-4524
In response to questions from GoLocal about "no fees" being charged to Willamette Week, Edmundson wrote in an email, "In terms of recent memory, I am not aware of a public records request from Willamette Week that required us to search for a lot of documents or require a large amount of staff time to review. As I indicated to you from the beginning, we were happy to reduce (or eliminate) the fee we charged your organization if you were willing to reduce the scope of your public records request."
In contrast, a FOIA request by Attorney Alfred Carlton for documents regarding Swift Rock Financial was flagged by Rosenblum’s office to cost $30,000 for his information request. Similarly, an inmate in Oregon’s prison system, David Raymond Durham who requested “Appellate case records - judicial review of parole board orders, including case #s” was given a cost by the Attorney General’s office of $141.00.”
This is the first in a multi-piece series about the public and political relationship between Meeker, his company and business interests and Attorney General Rosenblum and her office.
Editor's Note: Since GoLocal began this investigation of the relationship between Rosenblum and Meeker, his position at the publishing company changed. There is no report of his and her ownership interest changing. As previously stated Rosenblum refused repeated interview requests.
Related Slideshow: Slideshow: The Top 11 Political Scandals in Oregon History
GoLocalPDX lists some of the biggest and most shocking political scandals in Oregon history, from illegal sexual encounters to land fraud, over the last 100 years.
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