Court rejects governor’s move to dismiss public records suit

By SCOTT McFETRIDGE
Associated Press

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Supreme Court has refused to dismiss a lawsuit against Gov. Kim Reynolds that seeks to require her office to respond to public record requests. The court in a unanimous decision on Friday rejected Reynolds’ argument that her office wasn’t obligated to respond in a timely matter to record requests and that she could avoid the state’s open records law by simply ignoring the requests. The Supreme Court ordered that the case be returned to the district court where it would be decided on its merits. Reynolds says many open records requests during the period included in the lawsuit were made while her staff was busy responding to COVID-19 matters. She says her office now has a system to handle such requests.