Front page editorials: 11 newspapers urge Inslee to veto bill

Despite passing with veto-proof majorities, they want to send a message about transparency.

  • By Wire Service
  • Tuesday, February 27, 2018 12:17pm
  • Northwest

Associated Press

OLYMPIA — Thirteen newspapers in Washington state have published front page editorials urging Gov. Jay Inslee to veto a bill passed last week by the Legislature designed to circumvent a recent court ruling that found state lawmakers were fully subject to the state’s public disclosure laws.

The A1 editorials appeared Tuesday in The Everett Daily Herald, The Seattle Times, The Spokesman-Review, The News Tribune, The Olympian, The Bellingham Herald, The Columbian, the Yakima Herald-Republic, the Tri-City Herald, the Skagit Valley Herald, the Wenatchee World, the Walla Walla Union-Bulletin and the Ellenburg Daily Record.

The newspapers implored Inslee to reject the bill, even though it passed with veto-proof majorities Friday, to send a message about government transparency. The measure would retroactively remove the legislative branch from the state’s voter-approved Public Records Act so lawmakers could shield records sought by a coalition of media groups, led by The Associated Press.

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