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Auditor's Initiative Shows Nearly A Fifth Of Agencies Didn't Release Records Requested By Citizens

Jo Ingles
Ohio Auditor Dave Yost talks about Sunshine Initiative audits

Ohio’s Auditor has been looking into citizen complaints about government agencies that have not complied with requests for public information. He's now calling out some agencies for that. 

Auditor Dave Yost says there were complaints about 16 agencies. And three of them - the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System, the Ohio Department of Agriculture and the City of Beachwood did not properly comply with public records requests.  Yost says he hopes those entities will take action, but it's not his job to enforce compliance.

“If you give the auditor authority to enforce the auditors own compliance, they are no longer independent. They’ve become the management. They’ve become the super dictator, the Donald Trump if you will, of state government.”

Yost says Ohioans who have problems getting public records should contact his office to get help from his Sunshine Audit Initiative.

Contact Jo Ingles at jingles@statehousenews.org.