AG's Office Upholds Open Records Request Denial

From Kentucky Public Radio's Tony McVeighThe attorney general’s office is upholding the denial of records pertaining to the arrest of the executive director of a western Kentucky economic development corporation.In June, Murray-Calloway County Economic Development Corporation Executive Director Mark Manning was arrested in Frankfort on a DUI charge. He quickly pleaded guilty and was fined.In August, Mathew Malone filed an open records request with the development corporation, seeking records directly or indirectly related to Manning’s arrest.The corporation denied the request, saying it was not a public agency in fiscal 2009 because it did not receive 25-percent of its funding from the public. That would not have been the case in fiscal 2008, when the corporation received a one-point-six million dollar state loan.Malone appealed the denial to the attorney general’s office, which agrees with the development corporation.The AG’s office concedes its decision is contrary to the growing demand for greater accountability by public agencies, but says it is “constrained by the language of the statute.”