51黑料

ST. LOUIS 鈥� Mayor Tishaura O. Jones, who ran on promises of increased transparency in city government, is a defendant in a new lawsuit from a noted Missouri open government advocate alleging 51黑料 has developed a 鈥渟cheme鈥� to 鈥渞outinely鈥� keep records from the public.

The lawsuit was filed Monday by attorney Elad Gross, who ran in the 2020 Democratic Party primary for Missouri attorney general and last year won a major Sunshine Law case at the Missouri Supreme Court after he sued Missouri Gov. Mike Parson鈥檚 administration for overcharging for public records.

Gross鈥� 273-page lawsuit names Jones, City Counselor Sheena Hamilton and city Sunshine Law coordinator Joseph Sims as defendants, saying they have 鈥渆stablished a system by which they regularly violate Missouri鈥檚 Sunshine Law and use public funding to deny the public access to public records.鈥�

It and about the city鈥檚 online public records request center that routes all open records requests through a centralized portal in the city counselor鈥檚 office, giving city officials the ability to keep tabs on requests across the bureaucracy. Sims, the coordinator, says all communication with a department鈥檚 custodian of records must go through the portal.

The records portal predates the Jones administration, but record custodians in city departments and Sims began insisting on its use early in the Jones administration.

In response to Sunshine Law requests by the Post-Dispatch, the city has claimed that some records did not exist, when in fact they did. Other newspaper requests have been released with some records missing.

鈥淲hat Elad鈥檚 doing definitely needs to be done,鈥� said Mark Pedroli, another well-known government transparency lawyer based in Clayton. 鈥淭here needs to be more litigation against 51黑料 city regarding their utterly deficient Sunshine Law request responses.鈥�

Gross鈥� lawsuit against the city stems from delays receiving records from the 51黑料 Justice Center, the downtown city jail. Also listed as a plaintiff is Robert Childs, who was detained at the city jail and suffered injuries after disturbances at the jail when detainees escaped due to failing cell locks.

In September 2021, Gross sent several Sunshine Law requests for video of assaults that occurred at the jail in August 2021 as well as emails, texts and reports regarding the assaults. It took months before the city told Gross that no records existed for some of his requests, and some of his requests have still not been fulfilled.

The city portal, Gross says, only provides a standard response saying records will be available several weeks in the future. As that date approaches, the system then pushes back the date another month or so. That violates the Missouri Sunshine Law鈥檚 requirements that requestors are given the earliest time and date records will be available and that public bodies provide a 鈥渄etailed explanation鈥� for any delays in production.

鈥淚 have experience making Sunshine requests around the state,鈥� Gross said in an interview. 鈥淚 was very surprised how difficult it was to work with the city of 51黑料 in making a Sunshine request.鈥�

In his lawsuit, Gross said he asked to speak with the attorney overseeing city Sunshine Law requests. He was transferred to Sims, who is not an attorney, according to Gross鈥� lawsuit. When Gross asked to speak with Hamilton, Sims told him he was the final authority on responding to Gross鈥� Sunshine Law requests.

鈥淭he Sunshine Law is designed to increase public access to public records so Missourians can see what our government is doing, and the last thing that you need in that process is someone either pretending to be a custodian or who doesn鈥檛 know where records are that is delaying the process unnecessarily,鈥� Gross said.

The custodians who actually keep records 鈥� and can often facilitate more precise, easier-to-process requests 鈥� are told not to communicate with members of the public, the Post-Dispatch has found in requesting records. And though the names and locations of custodians are required to be released, Sims has recently declined to provide contact information to a reporter, saying only they are located in 鈥淐ity Hall.鈥� All requests and communication, Sims says, needs to go through the portal.

Gross鈥� lawsuit asks for penalties for purposeful violations of the Sunshine Law as well as an injunction. But he hopes City Hall will realize it needs reform.

鈥淢y hope is the city will say, 鈥極K, this is serious now, let鈥檚 change our practices,鈥欌�� Gross said.

But Pedroli worries there is a 鈥渃ultural dismissiveness鈥� to the Sunshine Law within the city counselor鈥檚 office.

鈥淚f you want to know who鈥檚 running the city, you don鈥檛 go to the elected officials, you go to the lawyers,鈥� he said. 鈥淵ou have an elected mayor coming in and promising transparency. (Jones is) not gonna get it until she goes in there and sits them down and tells them, 鈥橳his is what I want and you have to do it.鈥欌��

Nick Desideri, a spokesman for Jones, declined to comment, citing pending litigation.