The year before, the office responded to 325. Jack Turner, a Wichita lawyer who often requests public records to monitor local governments, said he wasn't surprised by the survey's results. While most government workers are helpful, Turner said, some are predisposed to keep government records a secret. A list of bills approved for payment by city councils. Records that detail total compensation for high school football coaches.
Crime reports from sheriff's departments.
The newspapers chose those records because they are open for public inspection under Kansas law and could be of interest to many citizens. Thirty-six were granted in part. In those cases, agencies supplied information rather than the records, or would allow the records to be read but not copied. More than half of the public agencies asked for more personal information than the law requires citizens to disclose. More than half of the sheriff's departments asked both questions.