Published: November 28, 2009 05:22 pm      

New state access counselor embraces openness ideals

INDIANAPOLIS — To Andrew J. Kossack, the mission of the Office of the Indiana Public Access Counselor is clear because it’s right there within the name.

“It’s public access; it’s not government restriction counselor,” he says.

That’s how Kossack plans to approach his new job as the state’s access counselor.

That doesn’t mean he necessarily will side with the citizen who files a complaint after being denied a public record or being turned away from a public meeting. “Most importantly is just to get the answer right for everybody,” Kossack said in an interview in his office at the State Government Center. “I’m not going to be biased in favor of the little guy or the government or the big guy or anybody.

“I’m sworn to uphold the law and to do the right thing. To the extent that the law is on the little guy’s side, I will be in his corner 100 percent of the way.”

Kossack, 28, started his job this month following his appointment by Gov. Mitch Daniels. He replaced Heather Willis Neal, who resigned in August to become deputy chief of staff for state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Bennett.

The late Gov. Frank O’Bannon created the office in 1998 after a group of Indiana newspapers detailed abuses of the state’s law regulating access to public records in local governments. Kossack is the fifth person to hold the position.

The access counselor has no power to enforce the laws. But the counselor mediates disputes by giving advisory opinions that often resolve the issues, avoiding lengthy and costly court fights.

Editor Craig Klugman of The Journal Gazette in Fort Wayne, one of the papers involved in the audit, said he has seen little change over the years in how local governments respond to requests for access to public information.

“Each year the players change, but we have new fights on our hands,” he said. “Some have not been infused with the idea of the need for openness and transparency.”

Not all of the access counselors fully embraced that idea, either, Klugman said.

He said the new access counselor should familiarize himself with the wording and intent of the open-government laws “and act accordingly.”

Kossack said he wants to use the access counselor’s Web site (www.in.gov/pac) as an educational tool so that government officials can learn about the Open Door Law and Access to Public Records Act. He envisions posting FAQs (frequently asked questions) about the laws, with answers to help them comply.

“A lot of these local government officials — they want to comply but they just don’t know how,” he said. “So some very simple yes-and-no kind of directions for them, I think, would go a long way toward keeping complaints out of this office, but more importantly keeping the public satisfied that the laws are being complied with.”

He also wants to create online “flow charts,” with click-throughs to answer visitors’ questions step by step. That, he said, also would help citizens to better understand the laws.

He says he plans to help educate public officials about the laws in speaking engagements. He has two scheduled in the next few weeks, including at a meeting of the Indiana Association of Cities and Towns in French Lick.

The funding of his office could limit such trips. His salary of $73,000 per year and that of an administrative assistant consume nearly two-thirds of the office’s $150,000 annual budget.

Kossack said he hopes to provide an internship to a law student to help him with the office’s legal work. He has begun discussions with the Indiana University School of Law, where he obtained his law degree in 2007, for that.

Kossack most recently was a labor and employment law associate at the Indianapolis law firm of Barnes & Thornburg. Although he represented management in employment litigation and labor issues, he said some of his work involved protecting management from government actions that served only their own interests.

“I believe that the government is the servant of the people,” Kossack said. “Of course, I agree with President Lincoln that government is by the people, of the people and for the people and can’t be any of those unless government is open and freely distributing their information so the public can self-govern.”