SJ’s Veno wins Jon Fleischaker Freedom of Information Award – State-Journal.com

State Journal Managing Editor Chanda Veno was awarded the second annual Jon Fleischaker Freedom of Information Award for daily newspapers in Kentucky.

The award recognizes her ongoing coverage of an investigation into sexual harassment allegations against former Franklin County Regional Jail Chief Deputy Jailer Kelly Rouse.

The award is presented by the Associated Press and is named for Fleischaker, who is the author of the Open Meetings and Open Record Laws in Kentucky and serves as general counsel to the Kentucky Press Association and numerous other newspapers.

The award recognizes his lifelong commitment to the First Amendment and is presented to one Kentucky journalist in the daily division, weekly division and intercollegiate division for their use of public records to shed light on an important community matter and to effect public policy change.

I am honored to receive the Jon Fleischaker Freedom of Information Award, Veno said. But more importantly, I am glad the taxpayers of Franklin County were given the opportunity to view an unredacted copy of the investigation report that cost the county more than $14,000.

Rouse was placed on paid administrative leave in mid-May 2018 while an investigation into allegations of sexual harassment at the jail was conducted by a Lexington law firm.

The following month, Katherine Coleman and Scott Miller, of Lexington-based Sturgill, Turner, Barker & Maloney, PLLC, released their investigative report and charged the county $14,505.17. On June 30, 2018, then-Jailer Rick Rogers accepted Rouses retirement.

The State Journal filed an open records request with County Attorney Rick Sparks for a copy of the investigation report, which was received more than a month later with heavy redactions. However, parts of the report that werent blacked out concluded that he was found to have participated in misconduct.

The newspaper made an appeal to the Attorney Generals Office for an unredacted copy of the investigation report and was denied. In that August 2019 ruling, the AGs office stated that Sparks did not violate the Open Records Act by redacting the report.

The State Journal, represented by Jeremy S. Rogers of Dinsmore & Shohl law firm of Louisville, appealed that decision and on Sept. 3, 2020, Franklin Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd sided with the newspaper, ruling he was unable to find any aspect of the investigation report to be exempt from the Open Records Act. Later that day, Sparks forwarded the full report.

The taxpayers paid for this report, Shepherd wrote. They have a right to view it in full.

No criminal charges were brought against Rouse, who retired when the law firm announced its findings and was never disciplined by the county.

On Friday, open meetings and records expert Amye Bensenhaver, who wrote open government opinions for six Kentucky attorneys general and informally advises The State Journal on access issues, congratulated the newspaper.

The State Journal represents the best in local investigative reporting. It is a worthy recipient of the Jon Fleischaker Freedom of Information Award for its dogged pursuit of the Kelly Rouse story, its aggressive use of open records laws to expose the truth, and its refusal to stand down when litigation became its only option, she said. "I am honored to work with The State Journals outstanding staff and management.

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SJ's Veno wins Jon Fleischaker Freedom of Information Award - State-Journal.com