August 04, 2005
Petition To Compel PDC To Release Public Records
Delivered Today To District Attorney's Office
August 4, 2005
Michael D. Schrunk, District Attorney
Multnomah County Courthouse
1021 SW Fourth Avenue, Room 600
Portland OR 97204
Dear District Attorney Schrunk:
The following petition is pursuant to the provisions of ORS 192.470(1), which states: "A petition to the Attorney General or district attorney requesting the Attorney General or district attorney to order a public record to be made available for inspection or to be produced shall be in substantially the following form, or in a form containing the same information."
I, Christopher Frankonis, the undersigned, request the District Attorney of Multnomah County to order the Portland Development Commission and its employees to make available for inspection and produce a copy or copies of the following records:
All documents generated by Bradley F. Tellam, or his staff, in the production of his memorandum dated July 5, 2005 (and presented before the PDC Board of Commissioners on Wednesday, July 13, 2005), regarding PDC Chair Matt Hennessee and contracts awarded to Nathaniel Clevenger and 3 Public Relations.
I asked to inspect and/or copy these records via a letter hand-delivered to the Portland Development Commission, located at 222 NW 5th Avenue, on Friday, July 15. Copies of the original Tellam memo and my original public records request are attached.
ORS 192.465(2) says, in part, that the failure of an official "to deny, grant, or deny in part and grant in part a request to inspect or receive a copy of a public record within seven days from the day of receipt of the request shall be treated as a denial of the request."
As of August 1, 2005, PDC had not responded to my request. As per the above and its prescribed timeframe of no more than seven days, this is to be treated as a denial of the request.
However, on August 2, 2005, I received a voicemail from Melvin Oden-Orr, an attorney at PDC, informing me that they were finally officially denying my request, citing "attorney-client privilege" as the reason for this official denial. In this voicemail, Mr. Oden-Orr stated that they had received my request on July 18, 2005.
He also informed me that I would be receiving this denial in writing as well. In denying my request, Oden-Orr in that letter argues that the requested material is "exempt from disclosure under the attorney work-product doctrine and the attorney-client privilege as incorporated to the Public Records Law through ORS 192.502(9)." A copy of that letter is attached.
As stated above, regardless of his official denial of my request, that denial also falls outside of the seven-day timeframe specified in ORS 192.465(2), and so a technical denial was in effect anyway.
As such, and either way, PDC has denied in full my public records request for "[a]ll documents generated by Bradley F. Tellam, or his staff, in the production of his memorandum (presented before the PDC Board of Commissioners on Wednesday, July 13, 2005, regarding PDC Chair Matt Hennessee and contracts awarded to Nathaniel Clevenger and 3 Public Relations."
Mr. Tellam's investigation was presented as an independent one, intended to resolve a matter of public import and interest, not as a purely internal examination by PDC's legal counsel.
For these reasons, we petition the District Attorney of Multnomah County to order the Portland Development Commission and its employees to make available for inspection and produce a copy or copies of the records described above.
Comments (12)
Jim Williams on 04 Aug 2005
PDC is an out-of-control public agency that spends in excess of $200 million of public money each year with little oversight and virtually no public input.
By PDC's actions of promoting vast sums of "tax increment" financing, the Portland school children are being left holding an empty bag as millions in tax revenues are re-directed to pay for the PDC bond issues.
The Mayor and Commissioners are derelict in taking control of PDC while they themselves spend millions pursuing ventures like buying the electric company. They have proven they cannot run either PDC or the water company! Citizens need to get deeply involved in these local issues or the financial strength of this community will be drained by the beaurocrats.
More power to Mr. Frankonis in his effort to shine a little light on PDC activities.
Dave Lister on 04 Aug 2005
Amen to that, Jim. And good for you b!X. Illegitimi non carborundum.
JasperB on 06 Aug 2005
I recently moved from Portland to Baltimore, where we have it much worse. The Baltimore Development Corporation, the local analogue to the PDC, is considered a "quasi-public" nonprofit corporation. The BDC recently won a lawsuit resulting in a decision that they do not need to follow the state open meetings/records law. This is in spite of the following facts:
- The majority of the BDC's budget comes from city hall.
- The head of BDC has throughout its history been selected by the mayor of Baltimore and attends the mayor's Cabinet meetings.
- The BDC was defended in the lawsuit by a city attorney.
- The BDC is included on the city's organizational chart, right under the mayor!
Does this sound like a private, independent organization?
I miss Portland desperately.
Jack Peek on 07 Aug 2005
Dear Chris, Please get the records for the dealings with Network Behavorial Health care/Cascadia health care and see how tax dollars are used for siting low income/criminally insane/difficult to place clients in neighborhoods in Portland.
If you want that Pulitzer, here is your chance.
The One True b!X on 07 Aug 2005
Dear Chris, Please get the records for the dealings with Network Behavorial Health care/Cascadia health care and see how tax dollars are used for siting low income/criminally insane/difficult to place clients in neighborhoods in Portland.
Why don't you do it? Public records requests aren't a tool for the media, they are a tool for any person.
Jack Peek on 07 Aug 2005
Dear Chris, Please get the records for the dealings with Network Behavorial Health care/Cascadia health care and see how tax dollars are used for siting low income/criminally insane/difficult to place clients in neighborhoods in Portland.
Why don't you do it? Public records requests aren't a tool for the media, they are a tool for any person.
I did years ago, got the whole file, it had neat little things in it, like the loan rate of so far below market it was sick.
Then the little passage about the need to place "high risk difficult to place clients", non-media types like you, who don't care as long as their not bothered by the placement of the criminally insane next to a grade with 400 little kids, would not run with this as news that may save a life, could not be troubled.
The issue is so PC, NO MEDIA TYPE..PERIOD, would look at it, but you can bet, they will do the "breaking news" flash when, not if, this crap decides to take a dump on a neighborhood.
We know you won't write it either, then you would be admitting, you as others knew about it for as long as I have been telling the story, and that really makes you look like ....well I can't say that!
And your beloved local paper, is advocating for the placement via, what is it now, their 17th editorial supporting this crap..this crap, without any notification too impacted areas, or the real nature of those placed there.
Just remember, you,most of all, did nothing!
Maybe an interview with the parents......nah, it didn't hit your house, why bother?
The One True b!X on 07 Aug 2005
Yes, having that monthly open thread sure is working out well for us here, isn't it?
People tire me.
Jack Peek on 07 Aug 2005
People tire me. NO KIDDING!
Mostly those that ignore the truth, and DO NOTHING!
Jonathan on 08 Aug 2005
... mostly those that peek at the truth through this bizarre, conspiratorial lense that defies sense or reason, and then imposes the resulting nonsense on readers of his rambling comments ...
Jack Peek on 08 Aug 2005
Jonathan Says:
August 08, 2005 at 09:19 AM
... mostly those that peek at the truth through this bizarre, conspiratorial lense that defies sense or reason, and then imposes the resulting nonsense on readers of his rambling comments ...
Dear Johnny:Bet you voted for Kerry too> Also bet your kids would be ashamed of you, if you supported what I keep talking about, after all kids look to parents for protection from things the can't fight, but you can.
Ramblings???? only if you don't listen.
The One True b!X on 08 Aug 2005
That's it. Into this month's open thread now. Or I'll start deleting this crap and cutting and pasting it over into that open thread my own damned self.
Believe it or not, there are people in this town who view this site as a useful resource, including the comment threads. Every time someone or someones drag a post off-topic -- especially now that there's an open thread every month -- they diminish this site's value.
Take it to the open thread. Or stop posting if you're not capable of enough awareness to bother.
Jack Peek on 09 Aug 2005
This off-topic comment has been flung to this month's open thread by the Editor.