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Colorado Supreme Court rules governor’s cell phone bills not public records

Like the amicus in which ASNE participated, the dissenting opinion noted that the majority ruling will allow public officials to circumvent the Colorado Open Records Act simply by using personal communication devices.

Phone bills listing calls made by former Gov. Bill Ritter on his personal cell phone are not public records under Colorado's open-records law, the state's Supreme Court ruled last week in a 4-2 decision that left ASNE on the losing end of a case it had joined via amicus. According to the Denver Post, which filed the original suit in 2008, Ritter used his personal cell phone for “nearly all” the cell phone calls he made for state business. “Whether or not disclosure of the governor's personal cell phone bills might be desirable as a matter of public policy,” Justice Gregory Hobbs wrote for the majority (PDF), “the complaint simply fails to state a claim that is cognizable under the current governing statutes. ...” Like the amicus in which ASNE participated, the dissenting opinion noted that the majority ruling will allow public officials to circumvent the Colorado Open Records Act simply by using personal communication devices.

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