Utah AG’s term ends soon but his office is still working to conceal his calendar

SALT LAKE CITY – As the end of his term approaches and Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes wraps up his time as the state’s top law enforcer, his office is pushing ahead on long legal battles to keep the press and public from seeing his work schedule.

Reyes’ office is taking one of those fights to the top level of the state’s justice system, appealing to the Utah Supreme Court after losing its case against KSL earlier this year. His office is also locking horns with the news organization in a related battle — heard Thursday by a state public records panel – and is suing a Salt Lake Tribune journalist over the same issue.

The State Records Committee didn’t immediately rule on KSL’s fight for a copy of the AG’s schedule, saying it would reconvene to deliberate on Wednesday.

Tammy Frisby, an attorney representing KSL, told the panel the public has a keen interest in seeing Reyes’ calendar.

“It is a public record of the government work of this state’s highest legal official, used by staff throughout the AGO (attorney general’s office) to perform their official duties,” Frisby said.

But a lawyer representing the office urged committee members to focus on a recent move by Utah’s Legislature – and one that took effect just after KSL filed a public record request for Reyes’ calendar – that conceals public employee’s calendars from public view.

“The committee should definitely be asking itself right now, ‘What is the ultimate authority’s intent? And that is the Legislature’s intent,” said assistant attorney general Lonny Pehrson.

He shared what he called a “cookie parable,” comparing those requesting public records to children wanting cookies after being told they’re off limits.

“Of course, what happens when you give one kid a cookie? All the other kids want a cookie,” Pehrson said.

He urged the records committee to close the metaphorical cookie jar and deny the public access to the AG’s calendar.

Records committee member Marie Cornwall voiced skepticism.

“I think it is a little more complicated than the cookie jar,” Cornwall told Pehrson.

Reyes came under scrutiny in recent years for a series of splashy getaways. Those trips include overseas travel with the embattled nonprofit Operation Underground Railroad, a World Cup junket and a visit to Las Vegas, where he raised concerns but no proof of “voting irregularities” in the 2020 election.

Hoping to learn more about how Reyes spends his hours on the clock, KSL filed the public records request in 2022.

The news organization argued taxpayers have a right to see Reyes’ work schedule, with the exception of his personal appointments. Reyes’ office contends that even though several staffers can see and adjust his Outlook calendar, it’s kept for his personal use and not subject to Utah’s open record law.

The public records showdown spilled over to the state Capitol in February. Hours after a Utah judge sided with KSL and ordered the release of Reyes’ calendar to the TV station, lawmakers rushed to make sure the courts wouldn’t have the last word on access to schedules going forward.

The Legislature passed a measure keeping public employees’ calendars out of public view from that point forward. Gov. Spencer Cox signed the bill into law the following day and it took effect immediately.

That roughly 24-hour period between the court ruling and the start time of the new law is a focal point of the case before Utah’s State Records Committee Thursday.

Just after the court sided with KSL in February but before the new law passed, KSL filed a new public records request seeking copies of the attorney general’s calendar dating back to January 2020.

Pehrson said lawmakers made clear when they passed the bill they believed calendars were always intended to be off-limits.

Frisby, the attorney representing KSL, countered that while the Legislature does sometimes write laws to apply retroactively, it didn’t do that in this case, so the new law can’t be applied to KSL’s existing record request.

“This committee should, once again, apply the version of the law in effect at the time of the request and order the attorney general’s calendar released,” Frisby said.

Utah isn’t the only state to chip away at government transparency this year. A new Louisiana law limits access to the governor’s schedule, and New Jersey made it harder to see government officials’ emails and text messages in a series of big changes to the state’s open record law.

Correction: An earlier version gave an incorrect timeline of the law’s passage and the governor’s signature.

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