It was a small victory, but it was sweet.

Last night reporters from Coast Lake News sat in on the first Lakeside City Council Executive Session since the June decision by the Oregon Government Ethics Commission re-affirmed their right to do so under Oregon Law.  A weekly newspaper, now in the third year of publication, the broadsheet has been met with animosity from City Hall since it began to cover the actions of the City Council and City Hall employees.

ORS 192.660(4) specifically says that “representatives of the news media shall be allowed to attend all executive sessions.” The Attorney General’s Public Records and Meeting Manual emphasizes the phrase “shall be allowed.” There are two exceptions and both rarely apply.  The manual also acknowledges that the term “representatives of the media” is not defined but, goes on to say, “ We have interpreted that term to include news-gathering representatives of institutionalized news media that ordinarily report activities of the body.”

Despite the seeming clarity of the law, on September 9, 2010, former acting Mayor Rod Schilling ejected the reporters from an Executive Session. At the time, Schilling told the reporters, “You are not media.”

Instead of informing the acting mayor of the law,  Lakeside City Attorney Frederick J. Carleton aided and abetted the ejection telling the reporters, “They do not consider you a newspaper.” When presented with the law and asked to substantiate his decision, Carleton refused to “cite ordinances or statutes.”

When pressed, he finally said his decision was due to a policy originally drafted by the Lake Oswego, Oregon city council specifically written to exclude a local blogger. No such policy has been adopted by the Lakeside City Council.

Coast Lake News filed a complaint with the Oregon Government Ethics Commission. That complaint was upheld with a preliminary finding “that Rod Schilling violated ORS 192.660(4).” Schilling then stipulated that he violated the ordinance and was fined a token $50.

After the September 2010 ejection, a local blogger with a declared mission of putting the newspaper out of business, championed and celebrated Schilling’s action agreeing that Coast Lake News was not a newspaper and was not entitled to attend the Executive Session.

On August 11, 2011, this same blogger attempted to piggyback on the Coast Lake News OGEC decision and attend the Executive Session. She was ejected by Mayor Ed Gowan who said, as a blogger, she was not entitled to be there. Though she argued the point, bolstered by some Councilors who agreed she should be allowed to attend, she presented no law, facts or information in support of her position.  In the end, she walked out promising to file a complaint with OGEC. The Mayor encouraged her to do so.

City Attorney Carleton was silent through the entire exchange.