AG To Lying Spokespeople: Spin This

pil·lo·ry (pilərē) historical

The Atlanta press corps had a chuckle a couple of days ago when text messages from the city’s former water department spokesperson revealed that Mayor Kasim Reed’s communications staff instructed her to obfuscate and delay responses to a Georgia Open Records Act request. The media wanted to know if the mayor and city council and their families bothered paying their water bills. (Surprise: sometimes not.) The mayor’s spokesperson, Jenna Garland, told water department spokesperson Lilian Govus to “drag this out as long as possible” and “provide information in the most confusing format possible.”

It’s funny in exactly the same way the movie The Cabin In The Woods is funny, when the guys in the secret organization who are trying to stave off the end of the world get murdered by the horror movie monsters they work with.

Jenna Garland is the mermaid, apparently.

But news that Garland and Govus and perhaps others are now under criminal investigation by the state government?

That’s roll-on-the-ground hilarious. That’s Borat-level comedy, there.

The Georgia Open Records Act allows for criminal prosecution. “Any person or entity knowingly and willfully … frustrating or attempting to frustrate the access to records by intentionally making records difficult to obtain or review shall be guilty of a misdemeanor,” the statute says. A fine of up to $1,000 can be levied for a first violation.

The AJC reports that there has never been a criminal investigation with regard to the Georgia Open Records Act. I actually think it’s a shame that it’s taken this long. For all the evil’s of the city’s posture toward the press, it’s the little towns in south Georgia that Jessica Szilagyi and other intrepid reporters cover that act like they can say or do whatever they want with regard to the public’s records. The AG’s office has a department devoted to mediating open records disputes, and joined a case calling for Northside Hospital’s records to be open as a matter of precedent. I’d like to hope that this is the first part of a trend, and that denying the public the information it needs to render judgment on those who serve it will result in more “spokespeople” in the dock, waiting for our tomatoes.