(by Leigh Dethman desnews.com 4-28-06)
Real Salt Lake officials want the public's money, but they don't want the public to know about theirs.
Salt Lake County Mayor Peter Corroon was ready to hand over the team's financial data Wednesday until team officials told him in a closed-door meeting they plan to file a formal objection. The team wants the county to pitch in about $35 million in hotel-tax revenue to pay for land and infrastructure costs for the team's proposed stadium in Sandy.
"While we have made every effort to provide helpful information to Salt Lake County officials, we never intended our most sensitive and proprietary business information would be made public simply because we were engaged in negotiations with the county," Real CEO Dean Howes said in a statement.
The Deseret Morning News, along with The Salt Lake Tribune and county resident Stephen Pace, filed public-records requests for all documents and financial records given to the county concerning a proposed Sandy soccer stadium that will be partially financed with public funds.
The team has 10 business days to file an appeal of the county's Wednesday decision. Once filed, Real officials must go before the county's Government Records Access Management Policy Administration committee, which can either uphold, deny or change Corroon's original order to release the financial information. If the subcommittee upholds the county's decision, team officials can then appeal to the County Council, and if that fails, the team can take the matter all the way to state court.
Joel Campbell, co-chairman of the National Society of Professional Journalists Freedom of Information Committee, said Thursday that although Real is a private company, the information should be public because the team has asked the county for taxpayer dollars.
"If there is public money involved, that opens the door for the public to see what's going on," said Campbell, who is an assistant journalism professor at Brigham Young University. "If we as citizens are giving up a ton of money for this team, don't you think we ought to be able to see what the financial data is?"
Corroon agreed but only after asking the Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office if he was breaking any laws by approving the release of Real's financial data submitted to the county.
The mayor has been an outspoken advocate of an open, transparent government. Howes, in his statement, said the mayor and the team had a "complete understanding" that the data that the team gave to the county "was highly sensitive business information that was to remain confidential under all circumstances." Corroon said Thursday that he had never made such an agreement with the team, and the county is bound by the state's public records law.
"An open, honest and ethical government must be more than a promise," Corroon said. "It requires us to explain to the public how and why its money is being spent."
Howes said the county should not release the team's financial data, as it will allow competitors "to outbid, interfere with, improperly duplicate, and otherwise undermine nearly every aspect of Real's ongoing operations."
A clause in the state's public-records law allows municipalities to block out certain information that could be considered trade secrets. But Campbell said that shouldn't apply in Real's case. "There is nobody else competing. They have a monopoly on the idea of soccer in Salt Lake County."
Councilman Mark Crockett said he can understand why Real wouldn't want certain financial information exposed to public scrutiny. Some of that information should be protected, he said. "I think that there is more the public needs to know before making a decision," Crockett said. "More general information probably should be made available."
Pace, a resident who has opposed other publicly financed projects like the Olympics and light rail, said something sounds "fishy" when the team won't disclose its plans on how it will spend the public's money.
"I pay taxes in this county, and it looks like it's a scam," Pace said.
No comments:
Post a Comment