Florida governor urged to pay costs of public records lawsuit

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

US | Wed Aug 12, 2015 5:06pm EDT

Florida governor urged to pay costs of public records lawsuit

TALLAHASSEE | BY BILL COTTERELL

The head of Florida's main open-government organization said Wednesday Governor Rick Scott should personally pay the $700,000 settlement costs of a public records lawsuit, rather than letting taxpayers pick up the tab.

Scott agreed to a state-paid settlement after Internet giant Google was ordered to turn over relevant documents in a dispute with a Tallahassee attorney who accused the governor's office of secretly using private emails for state business."He’s playing fast and loose with our Constitution and we’re paying the cost, both literally and figuratively," Barbara Petersen, president of the First Amendment Foundation, said of Scott.

Petersen noted that Scott, a wealthy former hospital executive, spent about $71 million of his own money getting elected.

Attorney Steven Andrews sued Scott and the state Cabinet after the state decided in 2012 to buy a stately old house where his office is located near the governor’s mansion. While defending his office contract Andrews discovered that the governor and his staff had set up a series of private email accounts in which they discussed official business.

He sued under the state’s public records law to see the emails about the real estate deal.

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/08/12/us-usa-florida-public-records-idUSKCN0QH2KB20150812

[onehandle]

1. Cough it up, millionaire Bat Boy.

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