Justices Define BWC Records Taft Can Protect

Ohio state Sen. Marc Dann's personal battle with Gov. Bob Taft for wider disclosure of Bureau of Workers' Compensation affairs took a new twist last week at the state Supreme Court, with justices defining what documents Taft could withhold under his executive privilege. The court, on a 5-2 vote, decided that "most if not all" of the weekly activity reports received in 2003 by Taft from certain members of his staff are public records not subject to claims of executive privilege. The court said those specific reports were "non-deliberative" gubernatorial communications. Reports containing in...