A nonpartisan organization announced Friday it has filed a lawsuit against the Minnesota Department of Public Safety seeking more information about how the state’s top officials, including Gov. Tim Walz, responded to civil unrest after George Floyd was killed.
It comes with Walz selected as the Democratic vice presidential candidate and increasing public interest in how he responded to protests after Floyd’s death in 2020. On the campaign trail, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has criticized Walz over his response, though an audio recording from the time shows that then-President Trump told Walz he agreed with how he handled it.
Public Record Media, a St. Paul-based government transparency organization, said it initially requested the information in 2022.
The goal of the lawsuit is to get the information “to learn more, not only about the decision making of top state officials, including Gov. Walz, during a consequential moment in recent Minnesota history, but we also want to learn why this simple data request has been stalled for over two years,” Public Record Media founder and board member Matt Ehling said at a Friday press conference in St. Paul.
The Department of Public Safety “is committed to upholding the principles of open government,” spokesman Howie Padilla said in a Friday statement. “We strive to respond as promptly and thoroughly as possible to all data requests.
“We acknowledge the public’s interest in the data related to the state’s response to the civil unrest following the murder of George Floyd,” his statement continued. “DPS is actively working to review and process the data involved in this request. While we recognize that this process has taken longer than anticipated, it is critical to ensure that the information provided is accurate, complete and complies with all applicable laws.”
DPS commissioned a report on the state’s response to the civil unrest, which was prepared by the Amherst H. Wilder Foundation, located in St. Paul. The review found several problems, including a lack of clear leadership early on as businesses were being destroyed and set ablaze, and a failure to discern peaceful from unlawful protesters.
The Department of Public Safety contract with the Wilder Foundation for the report directed the nonprofit to examine emails and memos, and to conduct interviews with government officials.
The report, released in 2022, doesn’t specifically say who was interviewed, but notes it was more than 50 people and included officials from the governor’s office, DPS, the Minnesota State Patrol, Minneapolis Police Department “and many more,” Ehling said.
The contract also stated that all the materials that Wilder collected for the report had to be provided to DPS when they wrote the final report, Ehling pointed out. Public Record Media is seeking interviews of high-ranking state officials that were conducted for the report.
“Given the unique access that Wilder was granted, this could be a very valuable data set for the citizens of Minnesota to understand how their government functioned during that time period,” Ehling said.
When Walz became the vice presidential candidate this month, PRM contacted DPS again to check on the request “because we knew there would be heightened public interest around the data set that we were seeking,” Ehling said.
DPS responded and said they would search their records, but then followed up to say the agency did not have the information that PRM is seeking — the interviews of top officials — because it belongs to the Wilder Foundation, according to Ehling.
“They’re just saying flat out that they don’t possess it,” Ehling said.
But DPS’ contract with Wilder says the state agency “owns that data outright,” Ehling said. “… Fortunately, Minnesota case law is very clear that when a government entity owns data, even when the data is held by one of its private contractors, it’s obligated to provide that data in response to a data practices request,” even if it means that DPS has to obtain it from Wilder first.
PRM went back to DPS and provided them with the agency’s own contract with Wilder, and hasn’t received a response.
So, the nonprofit decided to take the next step — they filed a lawsuit Thursday in Ramsey County District Court. The suit is about more than obtaining specific public information, said Minneapolis-based attorney Tim Phillips, who is representing PRM.
“It’s about upholding the principle that government data belongs to the people,” Phillips said. “We hope this action will lead to improved compliance with the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act, and better access to public information for all Minnesotans.”
DPS’ contract with Wilder for the report capped the cost at $150,000, though it wasn’t known Friday what the final cost was.
In a separate matter, Public Record Media said Friday they are involved in an administrative appeal of a stalled Freedom of Information Act request, which is seeking records about the Trump administration’s proposed used of the federal Insurrection Act and the administration’s handling of the Biden presidential transition.
It comes with Walz selected as the Democratic vice presidential candidate and increasing public interest in how he responded to protests after Floyd’s death in 2020. On the campaign trail, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has criticized Walz over his response, though an audio recording from the time shows that then-President Trump told Walz he agreed with how he handled it.
Public Record Media, a St. Paul-based government transparency organization, said it initially requested the information in 2022.
The goal of the lawsuit is to get the information “to learn more, not only about the decision making of top state officials, including Gov. Walz, during a consequential moment in recent Minnesota history, but we also want to learn why this simple data request has been stalled for over two years,” Public Record Media founder and board member Matt Ehling said at a Friday press conference in St. Paul.
The Department of Public Safety “is committed to upholding the principles of open government,” spokesman Howie Padilla said in a Friday statement. “We strive to respond as promptly and thoroughly as possible to all data requests.
“We acknowledge the public’s interest in the data related to the state’s response to the civil unrest following the murder of George Floyd,” his statement continued. “DPS is actively working to review and process the data involved in this request. While we recognize that this process has taken longer than anticipated, it is critical to ensure that the information provided is accurate, complete and complies with all applicable laws.”
DPS commissioned a report on the state’s response to the civil unrest, which was prepared by the Amherst H. Wilder Foundation, located in St. Paul. The review found several problems, including a lack of clear leadership early on as businesses were being destroyed and set ablaze, and a failure to discern peaceful from unlawful protesters.
The Department of Public Safety contract with the Wilder Foundation for the report directed the nonprofit to examine emails and memos, and to conduct interviews with government officials.
The report, released in 2022, doesn’t specifically say who was interviewed, but notes it was more than 50 people and included officials from the governor’s office, DPS, the Minnesota State Patrol, Minneapolis Police Department “and many more,” Ehling said.
The contract also stated that all the materials that Wilder collected for the report had to be provided to DPS when they wrote the final report, Ehling pointed out. Public Record Media is seeking interviews of high-ranking state officials that were conducted for the report.
“Given the unique access that Wilder was granted, this could be a very valuable data set for the citizens of Minnesota to understand how their government functioned during that time period,” Ehling said.
Attorney: ‘Government data belongs to the people’
Public Record Media initially requested from DPS in August 2022 a portion of the underlying information that was used to write the Wilder report. They communicated with the agency five times, asking for the information, and received no response each time, according to Ehling.When Walz became the vice presidential candidate this month, PRM contacted DPS again to check on the request “because we knew there would be heightened public interest around the data set that we were seeking,” Ehling said.
DPS responded and said they would search their records, but then followed up to say the agency did not have the information that PRM is seeking — the interviews of top officials — because it belongs to the Wilder Foundation, according to Ehling.
“They’re just saying flat out that they don’t possess it,” Ehling said.
But DPS’ contract with Wilder says the state agency “owns that data outright,” Ehling said. “… Fortunately, Minnesota case law is very clear that when a government entity owns data, even when the data is held by one of its private contractors, it’s obligated to provide that data in response to a data practices request,” even if it means that DPS has to obtain it from Wilder first.
PRM went back to DPS and provided them with the agency’s own contract with Wilder, and hasn’t received a response.
So, the nonprofit decided to take the next step — they filed a lawsuit Thursday in Ramsey County District Court. The suit is about more than obtaining specific public information, said Minneapolis-based attorney Tim Phillips, who is representing PRM.
“It’s about upholding the principle that government data belongs to the people,” Phillips said. “We hope this action will lead to improved compliance with the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act, and better access to public information for all Minnesotans.”
DPS’ contract with Wilder for the report capped the cost at $150,000, though it wasn’t known Friday what the final cost was.
In a separate matter, Public Record Media said Friday they are involved in an administrative appeal of a stalled Freedom of Information Act request, which is seeking records about the Trump administration’s proposed used of the federal Insurrection Act and the administration’s handling of the Biden presidential transition.
