Public Non-Disclosure

The Evergreen Freedom Foundation continues to expose the various gifts of taxpayer dollars that Democrat Gov. Gary Locke has been shovelling on the Boeing Corporation:

The documents provide more information on the Employment Resource Center that taxpayers will build and operate for Boeing—details that are redacted in the contract exhibits to protect "trade secrets." The state-of-the-art center will be 30,000-40,000 square feet and located within ten minutes of Boeing's manufacturing site. It will be entirely funded by state and federal dollars. Boeing will pay no costs. Boeing and its contractors will have exclusive use of the facility for the first five years, and Boeing will have priority use thereafter. We believe this facility violates the state constitution, which prohibits lending of credit and sole benefits for a corporation.

Hmm. There's more in them there documents, but the EFF will have to go to court before it can pry any of those public documents out of the Governor's hands:

A hearing on the case was originally scheduled for February 20 with Superior Court Judge Richard Hicks, but the Attorney General's office (representing the governor) asked the court to remove him from the case, arguing that he would not give them a fair and impartial hearing. Judge Hicks has a history of upholding and enforcing the state's public records law.

Isn't that his job?

Democrat Attorney General Christine Gregoire is running to succeed Gov. Locke. I think we're getting a clear answer to the question asked about Gregoire's pro-secrecy stance in a different public disclosure case:

Is this the kind of governor she'll be?

Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at February 19, 2004 05:43 PM