The “Selective Public Record” in Hartford

From KELOland, it appears that one of the city council members under siege wanted to have his cake, and eat it too by reading an e-mail into the record which he tried to use to cast members of “growing Hartford” in a poor light….. but then he refused to put the full e-mail into the public record, potentially violating South Dakota open record laws:

The latest issues stem from an email council member Doyle Johnson read during a meeting earlier this month. It had hateful language towards Johnson and his family. Johnson claims it was from a prominent business owner in Hartford, but the name on the email remains a mystery.

Since it was read at a meeting, Johnson is required to submit the email for public record. He did two days later, but we found out tonight that the email submitted wasn’t the full letter.

The controversy in Hartford tonight is surrounding Johnson. The councilor says the original threatening email sent to him had a name at the bottom. But the email submitted to City Hall on December 3rd does not have a name.

“Since December 3rd, it appeared likely that the individual whose name was printed in the signature block was not the author. I have deleted all reference to that individual’s name in the copy that I provided to the city so as to not implicate that individual in a fabrication,” Johnson said.

Read it here.

An elected public official uses an e-mail to attack his opponents in a public forum by reading it into the public record. But he selectively edits it before attaching it to the minutes.  Isn’t it nice he was protecting the person from all that awful public scrutiny by redacting their name? Or was it a case of all being BS from the start?

There’s something in this that smells rather badly. If he’s going to place it into the record by reading it, he doesn’t get to determine what people can and cannot see.

2 thoughts on “The “Selective Public Record” in Hartford”

  1. Might be bad politics but seems legal to me. If he didn’t read the name into the record at the meeting he doesn’t have to submit it later.

    I would also say I understand the ‘record’ differently… Meeting minutes are supposed to serve as a record of action taken by the council. Action as in business items that were on the agenda and that were voted on.

    Of course, I’m no lawyer and could be wrong…

    Either way, Hartford needs to flippn’ move on already.

  2. There is still some bad blood in Hartford. This is just the latest condemnation between the city council and the Mayor and the business group Growing Hartford.

    Both groups need to bring end to this non-sense, and get back to what needs to be done.

Comments are closed.