MEDIA ADVISORY

Mayor: Jennifer P. Dougherty

CONTACT: Nancy Gregg Poss, Public Information Officer, 301-360-3842

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Tuesday, February 10, 2004

MAYOR DOUGHERTY ANNOUNCES THE CITY WILL NOT APPEAL THE RULING OF THE MARYLAND COURT OF SPECIAL APPEALS REGARDING “BLACK BOOK” IN THE FOLLOWING WRITTEN STATEMENT

Frederick, Md. --- The Maryland Court of Special Appeals issued its opinion on the Public Information Act issue between The City of Frederick v. Randall Family, LLC t/a The Frederick News Post, et al and The City of Frederick v. Daniel A. Trey on January 28, 2004. That decision is almost forty pages. The City’s lawyers and I have read it and re-read it. I’ll give you the short version - it says release the documents.

The City will release the documents that have come to be known as “the Black Book”. The City will not appeal the ruling of the Court of Special Appeals.

I hope this will bring a close a dispute that has lasted more than four years, and has distracted this and the last administration from more important business of the City.

The City could file an appeal to the Maryland Court of Appeals, and I suppose to the U.S. Supreme Court, but I have directed the City’s attorneys not to pursue such appeals.

The information that the City is going to release consists of copies of computer printouts and documents seized from Angelika Potter pursuant to a criminal search warrant.

In November 2000, Ms. Potter pled guilty to operating a “house of assignation”. She was fined $ 100.00 and received probation before judgment.

Part of her plea deal with the State’s Attorney was that she would get her documents and computer back. Some people thought Ms. Potter had been treated leniently, and raised questions about names of public figures that might be in her documents.

Those allegations got the attention of several news organizations, which requested copies of the documents under Maryland’s Public Information Act (PIA). The PIA is intended to ensure that the people of Maryland know what their government is up to, and only allows information to be withheld under certain, limited circumstances.

The way the PIA works is that any citizen can request any document the government has, and the government has to make it available, or give a good reason why it is not going to do so.

As you know, I believe in open government, and I think the PIA is an important part of keeping the public informed and involved, and I agree with the Court of Special Appeals that the exemptions to disclosure should be interpreted narrowly.

We are talking about this now, however, because different people hold differing opinions on just how narrowly the exemptions should be interpreted.

Specifically, at the end of 2000, former Assistant City Attorney Debra Borden denied the newspapers’ PIA request. At an administrative hearing before former City Attorney Lynn Board in December 2000, Ms. Borden attempted to explain the reasons for the denial, as required by the PIA. After that, the dispute moved to the Circuit Court.

The newspapers sued the City, former Mayor Grimes, Ms. Board and Ms. Borden, seeking the documents, as well as money damages and attorneys’ fees.

After almost a year of motions and hearings, the Circuit Court held “that the City had failed to justify its refusal…” to produce the documents, and ordered the City to turn over the documents.

The City, Mayor Grimes, Ms. Board and Ms. Borden then filed an appeal to the Court of Special Appeals. That appeal has been pending longer than I have been Mayor and I am grateful that we now have the Court of Special Appeals’ decision and interpretation of the PIA to guide our actions.

Pursuant to the PIA, there is some information that the City is not releasing. The PIA tells us that we are prohibited from releasing some kinds of information and we are going to follow the law, but I do not believe that affects the original PIA request. Chief Legal Services Officer Smith has been coordinating the preparation of the material and has confirmed her procedures with the Office of the Attorney General of Maryland.

Due to the volume of material and our technical limitations with one piece of information, it is an unfortunate fact that all of the material will not be available to you today but I expect that it will be available within one week.

Although I have decided that the City will not appeal the Court’s decision that does not mean the end of the legal matters regarding the case. There will be at least one other hearing to resolve the issue of fees and damages. That matter has not been scheduled.

Finally, I have not reviewed the material that is being made available. I do not know what names or information that might be listed. My decision is based on trust in the system and the Public Information Act. It says, two Courts have said - and I believe - that the public has a right to know.

Jennifer P. Dougherty
Mayor
The City of Frederick