When House Speaker Joe Hackney put the brakes on legislation that would have awarded legal fees to those who win public records battles against state and local governments, he went against the wishes of Democrats in a big chunk of his legislative district.

The Chatham County Democratic Party's executive committee had passed a resolution in 2007 advocating the passage of legislation that provides an automatic award of legal fees, Dan Kane reports. This was after some of its members were involved in a public records lawsuit with the Chatham County Board of Elections.

The citizens won against the board, but the judge in the case made the citizens pay all but 10 percent of their $35,000 legal bill.

"The entire burden of making sure the public records law gets enforced lies upon the citizens, and that's not fair," said Nick Meyer, a member of the Chatham Democrats executive committee.

Thursday night, the committee passed another resolution again urging lawmakers to pass "legislation requiring the award of legal costs to successful plaintiffs so as to reduce the temptation to play games with the legal process wasting the court's time and citizens' resources."

Representatives for local governments and public hospitals oppose the idea, saying it does not take into account cases in which there's a question as to whether a record's public.

The Senate unanimously passed the legislation on the first day of the session's final week, but Hackney, an Orange County Democrat, did not want it taken up in the House. He said there wasn't enough time, but he also confirmed that he does not like taking legal fee decisions out of the hands of judges.

A judge has dismissed a public records lawsuit against Richard Moore.

Superior Court Judge Jim Hardin entered a dismissal motion Monday in Wake County Superior Court on the lawsuit, which alleged that Moore had withheld public records, the Associated Press reports.

The suit was filed by the State Employees Association of North Carolina during the Democratic gubernatorial primary. Moore called the lawsuit politically motivated and said he had provided all the requested documents.

Hardin wrote that the group failed to state the elements of its claim under the public records law.

Last month, Moore's attorney accused SEANC of attempting to bribe him in return for dropping the lawsuit. SEANC's lawyers said that accusation was preposterous.

Moore lost the May 6 primary, and endorsed Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue on Wednesday.

Update: SEANC Executive Director Dana Cope said the organization's governing board will decide what to do next. Cope said he will recommend an appeal.

"We'll always continue to advocate for state employees' retirement security and open government and holding our state officials accountable," Cope said.

 Correction: An earlier version of this post misstated the reason for Hardin's dismissal.

Gov. Mike Easley's administration is still having trouble turning over copies of the e-mails of its officials.

On June 27, The News & Observer filed a request with state Department of Health and Human Services for copies of e-mails since May 1 from six officials pertaining to the opening of Central Regional Hospital, the state's new mental hospital in Butner, reports Michael Biesecker.

It took 12 days, until July 8, for the department's public information staff to forward the request for e-mails to the six employees. DHHS public information staffer Mark Van Sciver instructed the six officials to gather the relevant e-mails and respond by July 23.

The first patients are scheduled to move into the hospital on or around July 21.

DHHS public affairs director Tom Lawrence said his office was not trying to delay the records request until after the opening and said those who had the e-mails were busy.

"We have a hospital to open," Lawrence said July 9.

Read more after the jump.

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Debbie Crane has a new job.

The former N.C. Department of Health and Human Services information director fired at the direction of Gov. Mike Easley's office started work June 20 at the North Carolina offices of The Nature Conservancy, a private non-profit, Michael Biesecker reports.

A public information officer with the state for 18 years, Crane was fired in early March amid fallout from an N&O investigation of the state's mental-health system.

After her dismissal, she ignited an ongoing controversy by disclosing that she and other public information officers had been directed to delete e-mails to and from Easley's office every day.

"I'm loving this place," Crane said of her new job. "My blood pressure is lower and I feel like I'm doing good work."

The names and ages of children participating in local parks and rec programs will not be public record, under a bill the Senate approved Wednesday with a vote of 34-12.

The bill now goes to Gov. Mike Easley for his signature.

Sen. Ellie Kinnaird, a Carrboro Democrat, said the measure exempting children's personal information from the state public records law is needed to protect them from sexual predators, Lynn Bonner reports.

Opponents said the bill is trying to solve a problem that does not exist and would make it harder for newspapers to get information on parks and rec team athletes. 

There were no clear answers whether parents would have to sign permission slips allowing their children's names to be published in newspapers under team pictures.

More after the jump.

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Legislation that would require state and local governments to pay reasonable legal fees when they lose a public records lawsuit cleared a Senate judiciary committee today after an attempt to gut the bill.

State law currently gives the courts limited discretion to not award legal fees to people and businesses who win public records lawsuits if the governmental agency showed substantial justification to deny records. Open government advocates say judges have largely used that discretion to prevent or limit the awarding of legal fees, reports Dan Kane.

"It hasn't operated as people thought it should and it has cost some of the smaller papers in the state a lot of money to protect their rights," said Senate Majority Leader Tony Rand, a Fayetteville Democrat.

State Sen. Dan Clodfelter, a Charlotte Democrat, offered an amendment that would have left that standard in place. He said the current law, passed in 2005, had not been given a chance to prove its effectiveness.

"It was negotiated in good faith," Clodfelter said. "What I don't like about the bill is that is going to be thrown out the window."

Representatives of county and municipal governments and public hospitals supported the amendment, while representatives of the N.C. Press Association and N.C. Association of Broadcasters urged its defeat.

A majority of senators voted the amendment down in a voice vote and then gave the legislation a favorable report. It now goes to the Senate Finance Committee.

The legislation, filed by state Sen. David Hoyle, a Gaston County Democrat, also creates an open government section within the state Attorney General's office to educate public officials about the state's open records and open meetings laws. The unit would also mediate disputes.

Mike Easley's having a rough year.

In his last year in office, he seems to be spending as much time trying to defend himself from public controversy as keeping the state out of a budget shortfall.

"I've referred to it as the quack of the lame duck," joked Senate Minority Leader Phil Berger.

Easley has been blamed for problems with the state's mental health reform, destroying public e-mails and taking expensive trips overseas. He's also had to defend his wife's $80,000 pay raise. 

His achievements, including the state lottery, More at Four and alternative highs chools, may be overshadowed when he leaves office, and controversy gives the state Republican Party ammunition in its bid for the Executive Mansion.

"They say first impressions count, but when you're going out of office, last impressions can last a long time," notes Democratic consultant Gary Pearce. (AP)

Pat McCrory says state Democrats are on a "fishing expedition."

The Republican gubernatorial nominee said today that the N.C. Democratic Party has filed a public records request for correspondence between the mayor, the city manager and his staff and three Charlotte businesses for the past 12 years.

In a press release sent out shortly before 5 p.m., the McCrory campaign says that City Attorney Mac McCarley estimated the request would cost "more than $100,000" and take "up to a thousand hours" of work to complete.

"I am disgusted by this fishing expedition being conducted by the North Carolina Democratic Party with the blessing of Beverly Perdue," McCrory said in a statement, calling it "dirty tricks."

Perdue spokesman David Kochman said they were aware of the records request and had no problem with it.

"One of the reasons we have campaigns is for voters to learn about candidates and the work they've done," he said. "I would hope that the mayor has nothing to hide. If that's the case, there shouldn't be any problem sharing more information about his record."

On the issue of cost, Kochman said that it's standard for a government body to charge reasonable costs to comply with a records request.

Update: McCrory spokeswoman Amy Auth said that the request was for correspondence related to two Charlotte-based companies, Bank of America and Duke Energy — where McCrory formerly worked — and U.S. Airways, which has a hub in Charlotte's airport.

She said he has nothing to hide.

"He will gladly compare his record to the rest of state leadership," she said.

Second Update: In its two requests, the Democratic Party offered to pay to defray the cost of copies up to $200, for a total of $400.

Third Update: McCarley, the city attorney, said this would be the biggest public records request in recent memory, topping a $100,000-plus request from an unsuccessful bidder on a city contract and a citizen who supported the unsuccessful effort to repeal the sales tax.

He said that the charge to the Democratic Party would probably be between $200 and $1,000 for the cost of copies, with the $100,000 figure referring to the cost of staff time, which can't be recouped. He said it will probably take "most of the summer" to comply.

Attorney General Roy Cooper is teaming up with the N.C. Press Association to help local government and law enforcement officials understand their obligations under North Carolina's public records and open meetings laws.

Cooper and others familiar with the laws will speak Tuesday at a training session in Fayetteville. Cooper's office says more than 60 local officials, including police chiefs, sheriffs, clerks of court and registers of deeds, have signed up to take part.

The same group has already had a training session in Gastonia.