Reporting someone to Kentucky’s COVID-19 tip line? Don’t count on anonymity.
Kentuckians who report other people or businesses to the state for failing to comply with Gov. Andy Beshear’s COVID-19 restrictions should not be granted anonymity, Attorney General Daniel Cameron’s office said in a decision released Monday.
The attorney general’s office ruled against the Kentucky Labor Cabinet in an appeal under the Open Records Act.
The cabinet wants to withhold the names of complainants to its KY SAFER tip line while identifying those accused of violating Beshear’s coronavirus restrictions, such as not wearing masks in public or having more people than permitted in an enclosed commercial space.
In a letter to Cameron, the cabinet warned that publicly identifying tipsters “will have a chilling effect on citizens’ good-faith reporting of non-compliance with public health orders,” especially if their names are posted online by Beshear’s critics.
But the Labor Cabinet is a public agency enforcing a public policy, and it does not get to pick and choose which parts of its enforcement process are hidden from view, wrote Assistant Attorney General Marc Manley.
“Calling public attention to the activities of governmental agencies, and inviting scrutiny to ensure equal and fair treatment when no other procedure apparently exists, is one of the primary purposes of the act,” Manley wrote. “If the government is making decisions about which businesses it will sanction based on unverified statements, the public has a right to know the identity of those complainants.”
The case began when a man named Charlie Dietz used the Open Records Act to request a copy of all reports made to the KY SAFER website and telephone reporting system between July 7 and Aug. 29, as well as all warning letters, violation notices, cease-and-desist orders, citations and inspection reports that the Labor Cabinet issued regarding violations of the governor’s COVID-19 restrictions.
The cabinet released most of the information Dietz wanted, but it redacted the names, phone numbers and addresses of people who contacted the tip line. Dietz appealed that redaction to the attorney general, whose decisions carry the weight of law on open records matters unless challenged in court.
This was at least the third open records decision the attorney general’s office has handed down since June that ordered the Labor Cabinet to disclose the names of KY SAFER tipsters.
The cabinet appealed two earlier decisions to Franklin Circuit Court, where they are pending.
A cabinet spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday.
In one of the pending lawsuits, cabinet attorneys said people who report COVID-19 violations could suffer harm in their communities if their identities were revealed.
“Despite the potential risk of exposure and retaliation to the complainants, the attorney general reasoned that the public’s interest in knowing the names of the complainants trumped the privacy interests at stake,” Labor Cabinet attorney John Ghaelian wrote.
“The attorney general’s decision provides little thought as to the consequences individuals might face from businesses and individuals who were complained against, who by violating the governor’s emergency declarations put the health of others at risk,” Ghaelian wrote.
