RLDF AGs 1217 - NE

To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the Nebraska Public Records Statutes (Neb. Rev. Stat. § 84-712), I hereby request the following records:

Copies of all available emails, documents and email attachments exchanged between officials at the Nebraska Attorney General's Office and individuals affiliated with the Rule of Law Defense Fund and the Republican Attorneys General Association.

Please understand “officials” to include individuals holding the following titles: Attorney General; Chief Deputy Attorney General; Chief of Staff; Deputy Attorney General; Assistant Attorney General; and Director of Communications.

For email addresses affiliated with the Rule of Law Defense Fund, please use email addresses that contain the domain: “@ruleoflawdefensefund.org.” For email addresses affiliated with the Republican Attorneys General Association, please use email addresses that contain the domain: “@RepublicanAGs.com.”

We are specifically requesting copies of any files in these emails that were uploaded to the RLDF "briefing room" at the website: "https:/rldf.box.com." As an example, your office previously provided us with a May 19 email sent by Adam Piper at RLDF that included links for two sign-on letters added to the briefing room. We are requesting copies of those documents and any similar sign-on letters circulated by RLDF.

The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.

In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 4 business days, as the statute requires.

Sincerely,

Andrew Perez
MapLight
Political Reporter
c: (954) 410-4522

To Whom It May Concern:

I'm writing to add a scope for this request.

Pursuant to the Nebraska Public Records Statutes (Neb. Rev. Stat. § 84-712), I hereby request the following records:

Copies of all available emails, documents and email attachments exchanged between officials at the Nebraska Attorney General's Office and individuals affiliated with the Rule of Law Defense Fund and the Republican Attorneys General Association, between May 1, 2017 and December 20, 2017.

Please understand “officials” to include individuals holding the following titles: Attorney General; Chief Deputy Attorney General; Chief of Staff; Deputy Attorney General; Assistant Attorney General; and Director of Communications.

For email addresses affiliated with the Rule of Law Defense Fund, please use email addresses that contain the domain: “@ruleoflawdefensefund.org.” For email addresses affiliated with the Republican Attorneys General Association, please use email addresses that contain the domain: “@RepublicanAGs.com.”

We are specifically requesting copies of any files in these emails that were uploaded to the RLDF "briefing room" at the website: "https:/rldf.box.com." As an example, your office previously provided us with a May 19 email sent by Adam Piper at RLDF that included links for two sign-on letters added to the briefing room. We are requesting copies of those documents and any similar sign-on letters circulated by RLDF.

The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.

In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 4 business days, as the statute requires.

Sincerely,

Andrew Perez
MapLight
Political Reporter
c: (954) 410-4522

Ms. Beiermann,

We have consulted the advice of two lawyers and we're requesting that the attorney general's office reconsider this decision.

We have asked your office to provide with us copies of files that were sent to the attorney general's chief of staff through unique website links. Sending a file via a unique link is analogous to sending a file via an attachment. To hold otherwise would allow for an end run around Nebraska's public records law.

It appears your office is arguing that the state does not own the records. But the state owns the right to view them, and therefore the public has a right to view them, too. It would create a slippery slope if public officials can effectively hide their communications with each other -- and major donors to political organizations supporting them -- by placing them on a third party website.