You've probably heard the news.  We won our lawsuit.

Well, sort of.

For those who don't know, last year the Sun Star sued the University and (now, former) assemblyman Rick Solie to gain access to the police records detailing Solie's DWI arrest.

Solie was pulled over by University police, on University property, for allegedly driving on the wrong side of the road.  The information we have indicates he refused to take a Breathalyzer test.

Citing privacy issues, our request for those records, as well as the requests of every major news organization in town, was denied. 

So we sued.

And we won.

So why do I have a bad taste in my mouth?

Well, for starters, our victory is only partial, and pretty empty to be honest.  But on top of that, this entire case and its outcome has revealed some pretty disturbing aspects (i.e. a downright ugly side) of privacy and public interest issues in Alaska.

I call our victory only partial because the documents, when released to us and the general public, will have black magic marker all over them.  A judge, Judge Pengilly to be precise, got to decide what the public was allowed to see.  He personally redacted every mention of Cherie Solie, Rick's wife, and a fairly powerful person in Fairbanks.

Why should a judge get to decide what the public can and can't see?

More disturbing than that, however, was something Pengilly said in the hearing, which, thankfully, was only his opinion and not legally binding in any way.

The Sun Star made this request when Solie was a prominent public official, and Pengilly agreed that the public should have access to information concerning it's elected officials.

But Solie's term in office has since expired.  His return to life as a private citizen, in Pengilly's opinion, means the records should now be private.

When asked by our lawyer if that meant that all any public official in the midst of a controversy had to do was resign and thus seal up the potentially incriminating records, Pengilly curtly responded "Yes, that's exactly how I read the case law."

What an utterly dangerous idea!

Are our public officials not to be held accountable?  Do they have absolutely no fear of public scrutiny?  Do they just have to drag litigation out until time itself takes care of the problem?

I'm sorry, but the very thought just makes me mad.

Now that this is all over, I want to thank everybody who helped us, everybody who donated to our court fees, and everybody who just stopped by to offer encouragement and advice.

I especially want to thank our lawyer, Lawrence Reger, who generously took our case pro bono.  He believed in us, and allowed us to fight when we, quite frankly, couldn't have afforded to without him.

Our advisor, Brian O'Donoghue, deserves a huge round of applause.  Brian was the adult amongst us who kept us from acting like stupid kids.

And, of course, I want to personally thank Sharice.  This was your battle.  I'm just the babysitter.  This victory belongs to you.

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