Bevin administration ordered to pay for withholding public records

Kentucky taxpayers must pay nearly $33,000 in court costs and penalties because Gov. Matt Bevin's administration improperly withheld information about the investment of public money in a private company.

Franklin Circuit Court Judge Phillip Shepherd ordered Bevin's Cabinet for Economic Development to pay the Courier Journal's court costs, plus penalties, because it refused to release public records that identify shareholders of Braidy Industries, which plans to build a state-subsidized $1.5 billion aluminum rolling mill near Ashland.

The Courier Journal requested the records last summer but was denied access to them. When Attorney General Andy Beshear determined that the documents in question are subject to public disclosure, the cabinet sued the Courier Journal in an effort to overturn Beshear's legal opinion.

Michael Abate, an attorney who represents the Courier Journal, said this week's court order sends a strong message to officials who willfully violate Kentucky's Open Records Act.

Read more: https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/politics/2018/07/05/bevin-administration-must-pay-withholding-braidy-industries-public-records/760148002/