Frontlines

Comptroller must release dates, judge says

AUSTIN — State Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn cannot withhold state employees birth dates from the public, a Travis County district judge ruled recently.

Judge Lora Livingston granted The Dallas Morning News’ motion for summary judgment, rejecting Strayhorn’s challenge of Attorney General Greg Abbott’s conclusion that employee’s dates of birth are a public record that must be released.

“We are very pleased with the court’s ruling, which greatly assists The News and other media outlets in reporting accurate and important information about government employees and their conduct to the public,” David Starr, deputy general counsel of Belo Corp., said. Belo is the parent company of The News.

The dispute began last fall when The News asked Strayhorn’s office for an updated version of the state employee payroll database. The comptroller’s office agreed to provide most of the data, but argued that it could withhold dates of birth.

In previous years, The News had requested and received the database with date of birth information.

The attorney general’s office disagreed with the comptroller and instructed her office to release the information. It noted that the Legislature has excluded from public release certain information that could cause financial harm, such as Social Security numbers.

The comptroller filed a lawsuit, asking the judge to declare that dates of birth cannot be released. Strayhorn, who is running for governor, argued that the information could be used in identity theft and should be exempted from release because it would be an invasion of state employees’ privacy.

The attorney general and The News argued that there is no exemption that applies to the data and that the newspaper has a legitimate interest in such information as a check against government corruption or abuse.

Dallas attorney Paul Watler, who represented the newspaper, also argued that the data is not intimate or embarrassing information as defined by the legal protections against invasion of privacy.

Del Rio council holds part of meeting behind closed doors

DEL RIO — Several citizens attending a recent Del Rio City Council meeting expressed shock when several discussions concerning city affairs were held in closed session, the Del Rio News Herald reported.

When Mayor Efrain Valdez announced the start of the council’s executive session agenda, Councilman Mike Wrob asked that several of those items to be discussed be in open session.

Wrob then asked the council to discuss Item 21 on the agenda in open session. That item was listed as an attorney-client consultation to discuss the status of an economic development agreement between the Friends of Del Rio Animals organization and the city.

Several members of the Friends group were on hand to hear the discussion.