By Caroline Ghisolfi
Austin American-Statesman
Originally published July 15, 2022
Newsrooms across the country are waiting on the Texas attorney general’s office to decide if records that could reveal crucial information about law enforcement’s botched response to the Uvalde school shooting should be released.
But if the office’s track record with such cases is any indication, there could be little chance that many of the records will be released any time soon. An American-Statesman investigation into the agency’s handling of more than 240,000 public records disputes over Attorney General Ken Paxton’s nearly eight-year tenure reveals that his office has increasingly blocked the disclosure of public records. …
“It’s a mindset that’s being promoted,” said James Hemphill, a Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas board member who assists the Statesman with legal matters. While not legally binding, these attorney general opinions set dangerous precedents that are prompting “more governmental bodies to claim exemptions (from the disclosure of public information) and the attorney general’s office to withhold more records.”