My favorite moment in journalism came in 2010 while I was working on a three-week investigative series on public salaries. I was trying to compare our police chief's salary with other police chief salaries around the state. I called around to a few cities to get their salaries.
I called the Rexburg city
manager out of the blue. I was surprised when he answered the phone. I identified
myself and told him what I was working on and then asked him what the Rexburg police
chief’s salary was.
“Who are you with again?” he
asked suspiciously.
I told him.
“And what are you working on
again?”
Even though I knew full well
that when you ask a public official for a piece of public information, it is
technically against the law to ask why it’s being asked for, I played along and
repeated what I was doing.
The Rexburg city manager
explained to me that he didn’t want that information to be out there, because
when people just read a number, they tend to overreact and get upset.
“What is the salary of the
Rexburg police chief?” I asked this time in a less patient voice.
“Well, our police chief is
going to be retiring and we’re going to be hiring a new chief soon, so I don’t
know what that salary is going to be,” he said.
“What is the salary of the
current Rexburg police chief?” I asked more specifically.
“Well, I can tell you what
the range is that we’re going to be advertising it for.”
“OK, what’s the range?”
“$60,000 to $96,216.”
“Um, that’s a pretty big
range. Can you be more specific about what the current salary is?”
“All I can tell you is that
the top of the range is $96,216,” he said, an apparent indication that that’s
what the current salary is without directly saying so.
“So is that the current
police chief’s salary?” I asked.
“That’s all I’m going to
say,” he said.
“OK, just so I’m clear. You
will not tell me what the current police chief’s salary is.”
“That’s correct.”
“OK, thank you for your
time.”
I hung up the phone agitated
but not angry, not yet. I decided to just let it go and use the range he provided to me. But
as I thought about it, it irritated me more and more that a public
official would point blank refuse to disclose public information. I decided to
make a point.
I filled in the blanks of one
of my pre-written Freedom of Information Act/Public Record law letters that I
routinely used when requesting public records.
I addressed this letter to
the Rexburg city attorney, got his email from the city’s website and sent him
the letter with an email message saying that I had just spoken with the city
manager, who refused to give me the information I was requesting and that
perhaps this letter would help the release of public information.
I sent it off and went back
to my research on public library director salaries, expecting the Rexburg city
attorney to take his sweet time in responding to my request.
About 15 minutes later, my
phone rang, with the caller ID saying “City of Rexburg.” I expected it to be
the city attorney.
“Kuna Melba News, this is
Scott,” I answered cheerily.
“Ninety-six thousand,
two-hundred sixteen.” It was my old friend, the city manager.
“That’s the salary of the
current Rexburg police chief?”
“Yes.”
“Well, thank you for the
information, I appreciate it.”
Click.
We will win. We will win.
We will win.
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