Deseret News Declares War on Legislature

In late-June/early-July, the Deseret News and the Tribune submitted records requests for documents. The Trib’s request was broad. The D News asked for a specific document.

The Trib’s broader request netted documents that led to a story. No documents matched the specific document requested by the D News. John Fellows, legislative general counsel, explained the situation to Lee Davidson of the D News, when Davidson called in a dither. Davidson exploded that Fellows “knew what they wanted.” Fellows explained that all sorts of liability could flow from releasing sensitive documents that were never actually requested. And, I’d imagine that Fellows might have wanted to add that it’s not his job to divine what a big, well-lawyered organization (that trades in words, for heaven’s sake) wanted, despite what it actually requested.

Davidson threatened Fellows, saying that his refusal to relent to the demands of the Deseret News would “constitute a declaration of war.” Fellows told him to redraft his request.

Immediately thereafter, the D News hit the Legislative Office of Research and General Counsel (LRGC) with an unprecedented number of records requests, many of them dealing with – you guessed it – personnel issues involving LRGC.

Last week, the D News ran a story that clearly would reflect poorly on legislative leadership. Problem is, the story was completely made up. In fact, D News editors privately admitted that the story was made up; yet, the D News is still running with the fabricated story.

Don’t mess with Big Media.