| Kwame Kilpatrick's recent scandal over the question of perjury, and the new discovery that his attorneys, the city, and plaintiff attorneys made a secret deal to settle the whistleblower case, raise an interesting point. Should public bodies even be allowed to enter into "confidentiality agreements". The Mayor's attorney told Flashpoint that such agreements are "routine". Sure. They are. In the private sector if you want to enter into a confidentiality agreement, I have no problem with it. But Michigan FOIA seemingly excludes the possibility - according to case law, one can not "contract away the public's right to information". That includes most legal agreements - Zarko Research has been through the issue several times with the University of Michigan. A public body should not be able to conceal the terms of its agreements to pay for mistakes it makes - let alone any thing else. Do private parties suing public bodies have some interest in secrecy? Sure. But who cares. Unless their interest is in keeping a medical record private, or some other abundantly obviously private matter private, they chose to sue the public body (or the other way around). It's an issue of public concern. How it gets resolved is a public matter. So, the Kwame case should prove a larger point. Public bodies should never enter into confidentiality agreements - and when they do, FOIA should be able to penetrate those agreements. |
