Sablan: Open Govt Act must be construed liberally

Rep. Tina Sablan has asserted that the Open Government Act must be liberally construed in favor of disclosure, and the burden of proving that an exemption applies must fall on the government.

Sablan told Saipan Tribune that during last week’s hearing on her lawsuit against Gov. Benigno R. Fitial and Finace Secretary Eloy Inos, she pointed out that the government has failed to justify their claimed exemption from the Act.

After listening to the arguments, Superior Court Associate Judge David Wiseman said he will issue a decision at a later time.

The congresswoman said if the court agrees that the records she is seeking are not relevant to the pending 903 litigation (Fitial’s lawsuit against federalization), then the status and timing of the litigation should also necessarily be irrelevant, and there is no reason to wait until after the litigation has been resolved to release those records.

“The real issue is whether or not expenditures of public funds can be shielded from public scrutiny,” Sablan said.

The people of the CNMI, she argued, have the right to know how public funds are being spent—“this right is the essence of OGA.”

Sablan said that during the hearing, assistant attorney general Braddock Huesman, counsel for Fitial and Inos, conceded before Wiseman that they could go ahead and release some documents after all.

In the defendants’ motion to dismiss, Huesman said it is clear that the federal government has already attempted to use Sablan in an effort to gain an upper hand in the litigation against federalization.

Huesman said forcing the CNMI to release sensitive information that the federal government is not entitled to contravenes the purpose of a statute that deals with litigation exceptions to the OGA.

Huesman said the public records requested by Sablan, by necessity, are either protected by attorney-client privilege or they are not relevant for discovery purposes.

Sablan filed the lawsuit against Fitial, Inos, and acting Attorney General Gregory Baka, to compel the administration to disclose where it is getting the money to fund the lawsuit against federalization. The Superior Court recently removed Baka from the lawsuit.

The congresswoman asked the court to issue an order mandating Fitial and Inos to fulfill their obligations under CNMI law by making available the requested materials within 48 hours of the court’s decision.