New JP says he will violate FOI law

We were flabbergasted to read in area newspapers on Jan. 5 that Kurt Anderson, a newly sworn-in Washington County Justice of the Peace, says he will discuss Quorum Court business by telephone with other JPs, which is an obvious violation of Arkansas’ Freedom of Information Act. He made the comment at an organizational meeting of the Quorum Court held the previous day.

Anderson says such a discussion between two JPs has not been officially declared illegal by an Arkansas court case. He notes that a meeting of two JPs does not constitute a quorum and should not require newspapers to be notified.

Anderson should check the record more carefully. In 1976, a ruling in the case of Mayor and City Council of El Dorado v. El Dorado Broadcasting Co. stated that a meeting of any number of city council members, even if less than a quorum, is subject to the FOIA if members of the council discuss or take action on which foreseeable city council action will be taken.

There’s no reason to assume the FOIA would be applied differently to a quorum court or any other governmental body. The FOIA was established to prevent governmental bodies from conducting public business in private, as Anderson says he’ll do.