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[Note: This material is copyright by the Press-Citizen, and is reproduced here as a matter of "fair use" for non-commercial, educational purposes only. Any other use may require the prior approval of the Iowa City Press-Citizen.]

University of Iowa law professor Arthur Bonfield cited recent tactics to sidestep transparency used by the Iowa state Board of Regents and UI in withholding records from University Hospitals Director Emeritus John Colloton in calling for revisions and enforcement of government openness codes in his presentation to the House State Government Committee.

"I tell my administrative law students that where government operates in the dark mold grows," a copy of his presentation stated. "On the other hand, when there is too much sunshine in government practical problems may emerge. We want our government to be effective, efficient, economical and to protect certain aspects of personal privacy."

In some places, language and definitions are loose or vague and other areas need updating to take into account new technology, such as e-mail, Bonfield said. He is calling for a revision of chapters 21 on open meetings and 22 on public records of the Iowa Code.

UI's decision, on the advice of the Iowa attorney general, not to release Colloton's correspondence caught Bonfield's attention.

UI calls the former hospital director a private citizen despite his seventh-floor office, level two administrative assistant, who earns $58,000 a year and types many of Colloton's documents, and his Lot 1 parking permit. Colloton, who was director from 1971 to 1993, also presents himself as part of the university through a UI e-mail address and use of personalized UI letterhead.

"The conclusion of the Attorney General's Office on this issue seems in error under the existing language of (Chapter 22). ... If in all of these particular circumstances correspondences of this type is not a "public record," that definition is seriously defective and needs a cure," according to Bonfield's statement to the Legislature.

Colloton, who is retired and has no duties, is unlike other emeriti with office space who continue to teach, conduct research or see patients. All emeriti get free parking, but not the "Lot 1" tag, which is reserved for the top 30 UI officials.

At the Press-Citizen's request, Johnson County Attorney Janet Lyness is investigating whether Colloton's records should be subject to public scrutiny.

Bonfield criticized reaching consensus via e-mail, a tactic used by the regents, and questioned confidentiality during presidential searches. The initial UI presidential search, which was regent sanctioned and led, was conducted entirely in closed sessions.

"A series of oral discussions or e-mail exchanges, each of them between less than a quorum of the members of a covered multimember body, can effectively settle a matter for such a body with the later gathering of a quorum for final action by the body becoming no more than a sham affirmance of that which has already been deciding," according to Bonfield's statement.

Bonfield called for clarification so that public bodies can't avoid public notification of meetings' time, place and location.

"(The language) should be further clarified to assure that covered bodies cannot avoid giving separate notice for each separate gathering of a quorum ... by recessing a meeting to another day and time rather than adjourning it," Bonfield said.

The Press-Citizen sued the regents for their use of this tactic when they met several times over a week in November without providing public notice. They did this by ending a meeting in closed session to veil the fact they did not adjourn. The board argued they acted within the law.

Bonfield was the principal author the 1974 Iowa Administrative Procedures Act, the 1978 Iowa Open Meetings Law and a 1984 revision of some provisions of the Iowa Public Records Law.