{"id":27946,"date":"2017-02-16T21:10:29","date_gmt":"2017-02-17T03:10:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/?p=27946"},"modified":"2017-03-14T10:55:12","modified_gmt":"2017-03-14T15:55:12","slug":"judge-rules-against-oklahoma-ag-orders-trumps-epa-pick-to-release-emails","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2017\/02\/16\/judge-rules-against-oklahoma-ag-orders-trumps-epa-pick-to-release-emails\/","title":{"rendered":"Judge Rules Against Oklahoma AG Pruitt, Orders Trump\u2019s EPA Pick to Release Emails"},"content":{"rendered":"<style type=\"text\/css\"><!--\np.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px 'Trebuchet MS'; color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke: #000000}\np.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Arial; color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke: #000000; min-height: 12.0px}\nspan.s1 {font-kerning: none}\nspan.s2 {text-decoration: underline ; font-kerning: none; color: #1155cc; -webkit-text-stroke: 0px #1155cc}\n--><\/style>\n<div id=\"attachment_27947\"  class=\"wp-caption module image right\" style=\"max-width: 620px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-27947\" alt=\"Center for Media and Democracy attorney Robert Nelon, center,  outside a courtroom in Oklahoma City.\" src=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2017\/02\/20170216-pruitt-records.jpg\" width=\"620\" height=\"413\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2017\/02\/20170216-pruitt-records.jpg 620w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2017\/02\/20170216-pruitt-records-500x333.jpg 500w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2017\/02\/20170216-pruitt-records-150x100.jpg 150w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2017\/02\/20170216-pruitt-records-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 620px) 100vw, 620px\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Joe Wertz \/ StateImpact Oklahoma<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Center for Media and Democracy attorney Robert Nelon, center, outside a courtroom in Oklahoma City.<\/p>\n<\/div><p>An Oklahoma County District judge on Thursday ordered Attorney General Scott Pruitt\u2019s office to turn over emails and other documents requested two years ago by a watchdog group.<!--more--><\/p><p>In the ruling against Trump\u2019s pick to lead the U.S. Environmental Protection agency, judge Aletia Haynes Timmons said the agency violated state transparency laws.<\/p><p>The Center for Media and Democracy in January 2015 requested copies of emails between Pruitt\u2019s attorney general\u2019s office, fossil fuel companies and conservative think-tanks. The attorney general\u2019s office found 3,000 responsive records, but did not release them. The Wisconsin-based nonprofit on Feb. 7 <a href=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2017\/02\/07\/as-pruitts-confirmation-vote-to-lead-epa-nears-watchdog-group-sues-to-see-communications-with-fossil-fuel-industry\/\">filed a lawsuit<\/a>, arguing the two-year wait violated a provision in Oklahoma\u2019s Open Records Act that assures the public \u201cprompt and reasonable\u201d access to government records.<\/p><p>Judge Timmons agreed.<\/p><p>\u201cPrompt and reasonable access to those records has not been given and the Open Records Act is being frustrated in policy and purpose,\u201d she said after reciting portions of the transparency law to agency attorneys.<\/p><p>The attorney general\u2019s office can appeal the ruling.<\/p><p>\u201cThe burden on a public agency, including someone like the attorney general, is not to withhold and then require the requester to justify why they want the documents,\u201d said Robert Nelon, an attorney for the watchdog group.<\/p><p>The attorney general\u2019s office declined to comment on the ruling. Pruitt has declined interview requests until the confirmation process is complete. In a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.oscn.net\/dockets\/GetCaseInformation.aspx?db=oklahoma&number=CV-2017-223&cmid=3498567\">court filing<\/a> responding to the lawsuit, attorneys for the agency said the left-leaning group had an \u201capparent political axe to grind\u201d<\/p><p>\u201c&#8230; it wants the taxpayers of the State of Oklahoma to bear the cost of that politically motivated quest,\u201d state attorneys wrote. \u201cThe court should decline Plaintiff&#8217;s invitation to take part in this hijacking and misuse of Oklahoma resources.\u201d<\/p><p>The attorney general\u2019s office released about 400 of the records after the lawsuit was filed. Judge Timmons ordered the agency turn over the remaining records by Feb. 21. Any records the agency thinks it has legal reasons to keep secret are to be turned over to the court for private inspection, Timmons ordered. Timmons also ordered the agency to fulfill by late February eight other records requests made by the group between 2015 and 2016.<\/p><p>Emails and other communications previously released under Oklahoma\u2019s open records law showed Pruitt signing his name to letters largely written by oil and gas companies.<\/p><p>On Capitol Hill, Senate Democrats cited the missing records as a reason for boycotting procedural votes and arguing for a delay in Pruitt\u2019s final confirmation vote \u2014 which Republican leaders have slated for Friday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An Oklahoma County District judge on Thursday ordered Attorney General Scott Pruitt\u2019s office to turn over emails and other documents requested two years ago by a watchdog group.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[490,491],"tags":[238,688,647],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27946"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27946"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27946\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28084,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27946\/revisions\/28084"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27946"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27946"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27946"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}