A former Lane County Commissioner got a favorable ruling from the Oregon Supreme Court last month. Rob Handy sued Lane County in 2012 claiming 3 commissioners violated Oregon’s public meeting laws.
Just before the 2012 May primary election, Commissioners Faye Stewart, Sid Lieken and Jay Bozievich held an “emergency” meeting with less than 24 hour notice. At that meeting, the three board members agreed to release a letter to the public that was unfavorable to Commissioner Handy, who then lost the primary. Handy’s attorney Marianne Dugan says the lawsuit argues the commissioners violated public meetings laws in two ways.
“One by having a, quote, emergency meeting when there wasn’t really an emergency,” Dugan says, “And two, in meeting or discussing, deliberating, before they met, via email, and by conversations, that they decided, pre-decided, whether they were going to release it.”
Dugan says the state Supreme Court left intact a Court of Appeals ruling that “serial meetings” do violate public records law—which will help Handy’s lawsuit move forward. Ironically, Handy and two other commissioners were successfully sued earlier for holding serial meetings. Handy has also filed a federal first amendment lawsuit against Lane County. A spokeswoman for the county declined to comment.