Judge fines Sound Transit for withholding info

Friday, March 14, 2003

By JANE HADLEY
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

Sound Transit illegally withheld cost and other information about its north light rail line from lobbyist Jamie Durkan, but did not do so in bad faith, King County Superior Court Judge William Downing ruled yesterday.

Downing fined the regional transit agency the mandatory minimum of $5 per day for the 14 days the documents were wrongly withheld. He also said Sound Transit must pay Durkan's attorney fees.

Durkan, who represents the city of Tukwila and Mario Segale, developer of business parks in the Southcenter area, estimated yesterday that his legal costs would come to around $15,000. He was represented by former Supreme Court Justice Phil Talmadge.

"They can talk all they want about 'transparency,' but the fact of the matter is they illegally withheld this information from me and the public," Durkan said. "Sound Transit has a tendency to make villains out of everybody who disagrees with light rail, and that's very unfortunate for the region."

Sound Transit Executive Director Joni Earl has said the agency's goal is to be "transparent" to the public.

Ric Ilgenfritz, a Sound Transit spokesman, said the document was 100 pages and contained lots of numbers and technical information.

"We needed some time to review the whole content of the document," he said, adding the staff wanted to make sure the figures were as accurate as they could be. The agency had told Durkan it would withhold the document for 60 days. Durkan sued.

Downing said the information was factual rather than deliberative, and the state's public disclosure law doesn't allow an agency to withhold such information while it reviews it, even if that information is considered incomplete or likely to change.

Downing did agree with Sound Transit that a small part of the document should be blacked out, because it contained information about mitigating damage to property owners..

Sound Transit released the documents Tuesday, the day of the hearing before Downing.

P-I reporter Jane Hadley can be reached at 206-448-8362 or janehadley@seattlepi.com

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