WATCH: Sportsmen’s Alliance taking public records case directly to WA Supreme Court

(The Center Square) – The Sportsmen’s Alliance Foundation is asking the Washington Supreme Court to directly review a case involving a recent Thurston County Superior Court decision about a public records legal challenge involving the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife.

In an Aug. 15 ruling, a Thurston County Superior Court judge said WDFW did not violate Washington’s Public Records Act by withholding thousands of public records from SAF for nearly two years.

Dr. Todd Adkins, SAF senior vice president, told The Center Square that his organization initially planned to appeal the decision to the Washington State Court of Appeals but has decided to appeal directly to the state’s highest court.

“Even though we lost [last week], I'm extremely excited to get to the Supreme Court,” he said.

SAF’s request for public records was submitted in September 2023 in response to WDFW’s 2021 decision to cancel spring bear hunting for 2022. In November 2022, the commission voted to permanently end the spring bear hunt, citing concerns about killing mothers who were still nursing cubs.

“WDFW took over 600 days to ‘complete’ the request, and we received less than 13 percent of the documents WDFW initially claimed were responsive,” SAF said in a June 3 news release.

Adkins explained that SAF typically receives an email from WDFW every three months indicating that the agency was still working on the request.

SAF eventually sued WDFW for failing to provide the public records, and three months later, the agency produced a mountain of documents.

Adkins continued: “42,000 records [are] what we have in hand now. And these 42,000 records show everything under the sun. Potential violations of the Open Public Meetings Act, potential violations of the PRA, all manner of bad government, and corrupt thinking. Having meetings with advocates immediately before a commission meeting and on and on and on. So, we're in this fight for the long haul.”

He provided some perspective.

“If you took them at their word that 471,000 records were relevant to our request, we estimate it would have been 5,000 years to just sit there and wait for these. It cannot be what the Public Records Act is about. It simply is bad government on steroids at that point,” Adkins said.

Adkins explained that SAF opted to ask for a direct appeal to the Supreme Court because some intermediate-level courts have “confused the issue” over whether or not sending an email every three months is sufficient to comply with the PRA.

“The base level of the state's argument is if we send you that email every three months and tell you we're still working on it, that's good enough,” he said. “That can't be acceptable.”

He noted that some documents received indicated staff members were intentionally delaying compliance and discussing the destruction of records.

“What we uncovered with our lawsuit through discovery was months and months would go by before staff members would email each other, ‘Hey, have you worked on that? No. I was thinking maybe next month,’” Adkins said. “When it comes to WDFW, the very commissioners at the top were dragging their heels. We have records that show some of these commissioners were actually asking one another to delete records. It’s almost as if these guys are all together saying, screw the PRA.”

According to Adkins, other states typically require agencies to respond to public records requests within 30, 45 or 90 days.

“They have figured out how to do that. It is possible to engage in good government. It's not an impossible task. It shouldn't take three years. And what's funny, when we filed the suit, they got it done in 90 days. Well, there you go,” he noted.

The Center Square contacted WDFW for comment on the case and received a news release from Aug. 15, just after the Thurston County ruling.

“Today, the Thurston County Superior Court ruled in the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife’s favor on public records litigation brought by the Sportsmen’s Alliance,” the news release states. “The court found that the Department provided reasonable estimates of time and had not improperly withheld the requested public records pertaining to the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission. We’re pleased with the decision today, upholding our commitment to providing public records in alignment with the state’s public records act (PRA). We appreciate the Thurston County Superior Court’s thorough review, which showed no violations of public records requirements.”

Adkins said SAF is also asking Gov. Bob Ferguson to remove several WDFW commission members for alleged “misconduct and secrecy,” which, he said, was revealed in the public records that were provided.

“The corruption in Washington runs deep,” according to SAF’s news release. “We’re hopeful the court will provide Gov. Ferguson with any remaining footing needed to act on that petition.”