Shed light on public employees

When Coeur d'Alene's airport manager was mysteriously fired, citizens demanded to know why.

When a Coeur d'Alene police officer who shot a dog inside a van was not fired, citizens demanded to know why not.

The subsequent silence in both cases was deafening.

While these two recent events were frequent headline-makers, many other public personnel matters remain painfully private. Those doing the firing or disciplining - or opting not to do anything at all - routinely follow the safe path as outlined by their legal counsel: Don't say a word, because it could come back to haunt you.

Not long after the dog shooting, The Press editorialized that the city of Coeur d'Alene was hiding behind such legal advice; that it had a higher responsibility to its citizens to share the disposition of the offending officer. At the same time, the Spokesman-Review newspaper was similarly critical, but more toward the state's public records law than action or inaction by Coeur d'Alene officials. (See the Spokesman-Review editorial, republished on today's Op/Ed page.)

Giving public officials the benefit of the doubt, our approach for 2015 more closely mirrors the salient points raised by the Spokesman-Review editorial. It's time to change Idaho's public records law, and several North Idaho lawmakers approached by The Press have expressed interest in seeing that this is done.

Here's the Idaho code that needs to be addressed in the session that starts about one month from now:

9-340C. Records exempt from disclosure - Personnel records, personal information, health records, professional discipline. The following records are exempt from disclosure:

(1) Except as provided in this subsection, all personnel records of a current or former public official other than the public official's public service or employment history, classification, pay grade and step, longevity, gross salary and salary history, status, workplace and employing agency. All other personnel information relating to a public employee or applicant including, but not limited to, information regarding sex, race, marital status, birth date, home address and telephone number, applications, testing and scoring materials, grievances, correspondence and performance evaluations, shall not be disclosed to the public without the employee's or applicant's written consent...

By modifying the law to clearly reflect the right of citizens to know specifics about any disciplinary action taken against public employees, accountability for all public employees will increase immediately.

Perhaps more importantly, light will finally be shed on those who supervise public employees. You have a right to know how your tax dollars are being spent, and nowhere is that more important than the investment in people who are paid to serve you.