Peter Michael Meloy MELOY LAW FIRM PO. Box 1241 Helena, MT 59624 (406) 442-8670 Attorney for Petitioner IN THE MONTANA FIRST JUDICIAL DISTRICT COURT NGIE SPARKS . DISTRISI COURT lell FEB '13 Phil 3 1 LED DEPUTY LEWIS AND COUNTY CAMPAIGN FOR ACCOUNTABILITY, Cause NO. (LEV Petitioner, 2 VS. PETITION STATE OF MONTANA, by and KATHY SEELEY through its LEGISLATIVE SERVICES PRESIDING JUDGE DIVISION and JENNIFER FIELDER i Respondents. COMES NOW the-Petitioner, through counsel, and for its petition in the captioned matter, states as follows: PARTIES AND 1. Petitioner Campaign for Accountability is a not-for pro?t public interest organizatiOn nationally known for its work in investigating and reporting the manner in which public Of?cials use and abuse power. 2. Respondent Legislative Services Division (LSD) is an agency of State PETITION Page 1 government tasked with reco functions for the Montana Le or in part by public funds or a rdkeeping, informatibn technology and administrative gislature and is an ?organization supported in whole expending public furids? as defined by MCA and within the meaning of Article II, Section 9 of the Montana Constitution. 3. State Senate and, at the same Of?cer of an organization kn primary purpose of ALC tc Respondent Fielder is a ?pub records laws 3. Respondents? ac and prejudiced its right to kni Constitution. 4. This Court has MCA, and 2?3?213, MCA. Consr 5. By letter dated Respondent Jennifer Fielder is a duly elected member of the Montana time, is employed privately as the Chief Executive own as the American Lands Council (ALC). The promote state of federally-owned lands. lic officer? within the meaning of Montana open MCA.) I tions described beloirv adversely affected Petitioner ow, guaranteed by Article II, Section 9 of Montana urisdiction over this action pursuant to 2-3-114, COUNT ONE i titutional Violation February 11, 2016, the Petitioner requested the opportunity to inspect or obtain copies of public records of Respondent Fielder?s transactions of legislative business since January 2013 related to federal lands, oil, gas, coal, mining, mineral products, timber, forestry, Utah State Representative PETITION Page 2 Ken Ivory, ALC, Americans for Prosperity, the Ainerican Legislative Exchange Council and Federalism in Ac :tion. also requested access to records related to the of?ce and travel expenses of Respondent Fielder and any of her staff members, including travel receipts, itine other records documenting tra 6. On March 2, 2016 :raries, furniture receipts, decorating receipts and vel expenses and reimbursements. i in response to a foliow-up request ?om the Director of Respondent LSD, Susan Fox, reported that she had been working with Respondent Fielder to ful?ll ihe request. According to Ms. Fox, Respondent Fielder would be ?in Helena next week and we were going to compare notes and finish up the request.? On; March 14, 2016, Ms. pr indicated she would send Petitioner some of the reques ted records. Severalidays later, Petitioner received hard copies of some of the travel records and a thumb drive containing some emails apparently contained indicated that her technical p1 obtain additional emails ??orr. 7. On June 16, 201 )n the Legislative Seivices email server. Ms. Fox also ersonnel were working with Respondent Fielder to [Respondent Fielder??s other accounts. 6, Ms. Fox emailed apologizing for the delay in responding to the request, stating that she has ?had trouble contacting Sen. Fielder, but I am working on this nova end of June.? 8. Having receiVed PETITION I directly and should; get you the information by the no response by the ehd of June, emailed Ms. Fox Page 3 on July 26, 2016 asking for a status report. Ms. Fjox indicated her IT staff had gathered certain documents and forwarded them to Respondent Fielder. Ms. Fox asked Respondent Fielder about her review of these records and was told: ?Now that I (Fielder) have this d001 unent I will get through it as soon as I am able, although it is nearly 400 pages and I will have to work on it when I can ?nd ?'ee time. . ..As I understand itthe-re is no speci?c time frame in which it must be completed but I will try to ge 9. On August 1,202 about the status of the record could be narrowed or limited it done before the election.? contacted Respondent Fielder directly, asking 3 request and offering to discuss how the request to expedite the production of the records. After the election, on November 10, 2016, sent another follow-up request to Ms. Fox asking for records up to the resent. 10. As of the date of this Petition, neither Respondent has provided the additional records requested . the opportunity to inspect the 11. Petitioner has a1 Section 9, of the Constitution shall be deprived of the right agencies of state government since March, 2016, rior has Petitioner been afforded requested public documents. fight to review the reicords pursuant to Article II, 1 of the State of Montana, which states that ?no person to examine documents of all public bodies or and its subdivisions: except in cases in which the demand of individual privacy clearly exceeds the merits of public disclosure.? PETITION Page 4 Petitioner also asserts its fclai'm under the Montana Open Records Act (Title 2, Chapter 6, MCA), which provides that ?every person has a right to examine or obtain a copy of any public i requested of public of?cers nformation of this state.? This includes information elated to the transaction of official business, regardless of form MCA). 2-6?31006, MCA requires the custodian of a document to available for inspection or time it will take to ful?ll the possible.? respond in a timely manner? either making the records troviding the requesting person with an estimate of the request in the most cost-ef?cient and timely manner 12. By its actions described above, Respiondents have violated and deprived Petitioner of its rigl continue to violate P'etitiOner Montana Constitution, and WI-IEREFORIB, Petitit follows: i . That the Court 1 Petitioner to inspect and rece it to examine documents of a public body and ?3 right to know, guaranteed by Article II, Section 9, 2-6?1003, MCA. )ners respectfully asli: the Court to grant relief as ssue an order directing Respondents to permit .ive copies of the following records: all documents sent to or ?'om Respondent Fielder?s legislative of?ce since January 1, 2013, related to federal lands, oil, gas, coal, mining, mineral products, timber forestry, Utah State Representative Ken Ivory, the American Lands Council, Americans for PETITION Page 5 Prosperity, the American Legislative Exchange Cbuncil, and Federalism in Action; documents related to of?ce and travel expenses for Respondent Fielder and her staff, including travel receipts, travel itineraries, furniture receipts, decorating receipts and any email address ending in @americanlandscouncil. org. For the purposes of this request the Word ?document? includes, but is not limited to, all agreements, memoranda, reports, notes, diaries, calendars, telephone bills, internal communications, interof?ce communications, e-mails, text messages, facsimiles, telegraphs, letters, books, brochures, manuals, directives, bulletins, worksheets, minutes and summaries of meetings, conversations, and communications of any type, including telephone conversations. ?Document? also includes all copies not identical to the original. Excluded from this request are medical records, if any, documents subject to attorne ~client privilege, if any, names of third party witnesses, if any, social security numbers and/or dates, and driver?s license numbers, if any. I 2. That the Court order that Petitioner reimbursed for all costs and attorney fees incurred in bringing this action, pursuant to and 3. For such other and further relief as Court may deem just and proper. PETITION Page 6 DATED this-13th day of February, 2017. MELOY LAW FIRM PO. Box 1241 Helena MT 59 LOY PETITION Page 7