The Daily Journal and two other news outlets have allied to oppose former Gov. Phil Bryant’s effort to block the public from viewing emails and text messages that could shed new light on an ongoing investigation involving the misuse of federal welfare dollars.
In a Thursday filing in Hinds County Circuit Court, the Daily Journal, the Mississippi Free Press and Mississippi Today have moved to protect the public’s right to access government records.
The news organizations, which are represented by the Mississippi Center for Justice and the Center for Constitutional Rights, want to argue before a court that documents relating to communications from Bryant’s time as governor should not be kept secret if they surface in the course of civil lawsuits that are ongoing over the welfare scandal.
“Although these records relate to one of the largest governmental abuses in this State’s recent memory, Bryant seeks to keep them hidden from the public,” argued the news organizations in Friday’s court filing. “The public in Mississippi has an interest in these records and what they could disclose about the scandal.”
In a joint statement, the editors of the news organizations said that the press has an obligation to fight on behalf of the public’s right to access government records and the correspondence of public officials.
“One of the basic duties of a free press is to hold public officials accountable and ensure that the government remains as open and transparent to the people it serves as possible. We are taking action in court as part of our ongoing efforts to get at the truth of one of the largest public scandals in our state’s history,” said Sam R. Hall of the Daily Journal, Donna Ladd of the Mississippi Free Press and Adam Ganucheau of Mississippi Today.
The State of Mississippi has sued numerous individuals and organizations in an effort to recover welfare funds that were allegedly misspent. Some of the targets of these civil lawsuits have also pleaded guilty in state and federal court to crimes linked to their use of public welfare dollars. None has served time to date.
Bryant