Opinion ID: 2680600
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: New points of agreement

Text: [¶58] Although the draft agendas are pre-decisional, we are unable to conclude that the agendas are deliberative, given that there is very little substantive difference between the draft agendas and the final agenda. The draft agendas do not detail the State’s position on any of the points of agreement or disagreement, and the final agenda communicated that there were points of agreement and disagreement, so the draft topics would not disclose a previously undisclosed detail. The drafts do disclose the State’s decisionmaking process in preparing for the meeting, but we are unable to conclude they do so in a way that interferes with that process, prematurely discloses a state policy or strategy, or could confuse the public on the State’s position. See Trentadue, 501 F.3d at 1228 (“[I]nformation is not protected simply because disclosure would reveal some minor or obvious detail of an agency’s decisionmaking process.”). 7 We find these documents fail to satisfy the requirements of the deliberative process privilege, and must, therefore, be disclosed. Document No. 7 [¶59] Document No. 7 contains Steve Ferrell’s handwritten notes reflecting his personal thoughts, suggestions, and opinions regarding options and policies the State might pursue in its negotiations with the Department of the Interior. The document is pre-decisional and reflects Mr. Ferrell’s personal thoughts, suggestions, and opinions, rather than the State’s position. Disclosure of this document would likely stifle future honest communication and candor in the decisionmaking process. As a result, disclosure would be contrary to the public interest. We therefore find the document fits within the privilege. Document Nos. 9, 11-14 [¶60] Document Nos. 9, 11-14 are drafts of a letter inviting various governors to a sage grouse summit, along with cover e-mails to which the drafts were attached. The draft letters are certainly pre-decisional in that they are not the final letter sent to the governors, but as with the draft agendas, we are unable to find that the draft letters are deliberative. In comparing the final version of the letter that was sent to the governors and provided to Mr. Aland, we are unable to discern any truly substantive difference in the letters that would prematurely disclose a State policy or strategy, or could confuse the public on the State’s position. The changes between the drafts and the final letter are primarily wording choices and stylistic changes. We therefore conclude that the draft letters are not protected by the privilege and should be disclosed. 7 In so ruling, we do not intend to suggest that draft agendas are never protected by the privilege. Such drafts may be privileged if they meet the three prongs set forth above. See supra ¶¶ 40-47. 22 [¶61] With respect to the cover e-mails to which the draft letters were attached when circulated, we find that the e-mails associated with Document Nos. 13 and 14 contain personal opinions and thoughts of authors concerning the sage grouse summit and the letters to governors. Because the details contained in the e-mails reflect thoughts of the authors and because withholding them is “necessary to protect free discussion of prospective operations and policy,” Freudenthal, 2010 WY 80, ¶ 36, 233 P.3d at 943 (internal citation and quotation marks omitted), disclosure would be contrary to the public interest. We therefore find those to be protected by the privilege. Document Nos. 15-18 [¶62] Document Nos. 15-18 are drafts of a letter from the Governor to Secretary Salazar thanking him for co-hosting the sage grouse summit, along with the cover e-mails to which the letter was attached. These drafts contain personal suggestions and recommendations of policy staff members and, in contrast to the letters discussed above, the record does show substantive differences between the drafts and the final letter that was sent to the Secretary, which differences could prematurely disclose a state policy or strategy, or confuse the public on the State’s position or strategy. Disclosure of these documents would be contrary to the public interest because it is likely to chill future candid discussion and therefore harm the quality of government decisionmaking. We thus conclude that these draft letters, along with the e-mail associated with Document No. 18, which was likewise withheld, are protected by the privilege. Document Nos. 19-22 [¶63] Document Nos. 19-22 are drafts of a letter from the Governor to various governors regarding the Sage Grouse Task Force. These drafts contain personal suggestions and recommendations of policy staff members, and the record shows substantive differences between the drafts and the final letter sent to the governors, which differences could prematurely disclose a State policy or strategy, or confuse the public on the State’s position or strategy. Again, disclosure of these documents would be contrary to the public interest for the same reasons as Document Nos. 15-18. We thus conclude that these draft letters are protected by the privilege. Document Nos. 23-38, 43-45 [¶64] Document Nos. 23-38, 43-45 are drafts of the Governor’s May 24, 2012 letter to Secretary Salazar regarding grizzly bear management, along with the e-mails to which the draft letters were attached. These drafts contain personal suggestions and recommendations of policy staff members, and the record shows substantive differences between the drafts and the final letter sent to the Secretary, which differences could prematurely disclose a State policy or strategy, or confuse the public on the State’s 23 position or strategy. Because disclosure of these documents would risk confusing the public as to the State’s position and would likely discourage the give and take necessary to produce a final, well-reasoned opinion, disclosure is contrary to public policy. We thus conclude that these draft letters are protected by the privilege. [¶65] With respect to the cover e-mails to which the draft letters were attached when circulated, the privilege log shows that many were disclosed. Of those that were not disclosed, we find that the e-mails associated with Document Nos. 44 and 45 are not deliberative and should be disclosed. The remaining withheld e-mails contain personal opinions and thoughts of authors concerning the letter and policy and strategy options, and, for the reasons stated in the preceding paragraph, disclosure would be contrary to public policy. We therefore find those to be protected by the privilege. Document No. 39 [¶66] Document No. 39 is a typed document sent from Steve Ferrell to another staff member containing talking points for a Wyoming Stock Growers Association meeting. The State has characterized the document as a draft document, but the cover e-mail to which the document was attached reads as follows: Per your request here’s some talking points for the WSGA. If [sic] found these meetings to be pretty informal, and they usually want you to be brief and leave time for questions. You will probably be sharing your time on the agenda with G&F, FWS, and the Grazing Board. Use your judgment on some of these items (e.g. wild horses). We haven’t received formal notification as yet. [¶67] The attached talking points do not reflect personal opinions or recommendations on policy matters, but rather contain a listing of issues with a note regarding status of each issue and/or plans for each issue. The document does not reflect personal opinions or viewpoints regarding the issues and is essentially a factual recitation. We find the document to be neither pre-decisional nor deliberative, and the privilege therefore does not apply. Document No. 40 [¶68] Document No. 40 consists of a two drafts of an e-mail sent in response to constituent correspondence regarding grizzly bear management. The draft e-mails are pre-decisional in that they are not the final correspondence that was sent to the constituent. With respect to whether the drafts are deliberative, we find that the draft at page 97 is deliberative because there are substantive differences between that draft and the final draft that might cause confusion on the State’s policy. Because of the potential 24 confusion, and likelihood of discouraging candid discussion in the future, disclosure of that draft would be contrary to public policy. With respect to the draft at page 96, we are unable to find that the draft is deliberative. In comparing the final version of the e-mail sent to the constituent and provided to Mr. Aland, we are unable to discern a substantive difference that would prematurely disclose a State policy or strategy, or could confuse the public on the State’s position. We therefore conclude that the draft at page 96 is not protected by the privilege and should be disclosed. Document Nos. 41-42 [¶69] Document Nos. 41-42 are notes regarding constituent correspondence that reflect the personal thoughts, recommendations and opinions of staff members on how to respond to a particular constituent letter. Disclosure of these documents would potentially chill the necessary discourse which must occur for the government to make well educated and rational decisions. We find that the notes are pre-decisional and deliberative and disclosure would be contrary to public policy, therefore the documents are protected by the privilege. [¶70] Having completed our review of the documents withheld on grounds of the deliberative process privilege, we next turn to a discussion of the two remaining documents, those which the State withheld as protected by the attorney-client privilege. III. Do the documents withheld fall within the attorney-client privilege? [¶71] The State withheld three documents on grounds that they were protected by the attorney-client privilege. On appeal, only two of those documents remain in dispute: Document No. 1 and Document No. 8. With respect to these documents, Steve Ferrell attested to the following: 6. In my position I am also a point of contact within the Governor’s Office for matters related to wildlife and endangered species litigation. In this capacity, I communicate with attorneys in the Attorney General’s Office and assist in the litigation. 7. Document No. 1, p. 1 (filed under seal), are my notes of a conversation I had with Deputy Attorney General Jay Jerde about litigation in which the State of Wyoming is involved over wolves. The notes contain legal advice Mr. Jerde gave me regarding the litigation. .... 25 13. Document No. 8, pp. 12-13, is a memorandum I drafted following a conversation I had with Deputy Attorney General Jay Jerde about wolf litigation in which the State of Wyoming is involved. The notes contain Mr. Jerde’s legal advice. [¶72] Based on our review of the documents, we found Document Nos. 1 and 8 to be as Mr. Ferrell described. Document No. 8 is a memorandum from Mr. Ferrell, who is a policy advisor in the Governor’s Office, to the Governor’s policy director, essentially summarizing the legal advice Mr. Ferrell had received from counsel. [¶73] Mr. Aland presents a number of arguments for why Document Nos. 1 and 8 should not be protected by the attorney-client privilege. He argues first that the State violated the WPRA by failing to cite to the specific statute that creates the attorney-client privilege when it identified the documents as privileged legal communications in its privilege log. Specifically, he cites to the WPRA’s requirement that: If the custodian denies access to any public record, the applicant may request a written statement of the grounds for the denial. The statement shall cite the law or regulation under which access is denied and shall be furnished to the applicant. Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 16-4-203(e). [¶74] The privilege log the Governor’s Office provided for the documents it withheld from Mr. Aland specified that Documents Nos. 1 and 8 were withheld as “privileged legal advice.” The log did not cite to Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 1-12-101(a)(i), the Wyoming statute that adopts the attorney-client privilege. We agree with the district court’s rejection of Mr. Aland’s argument: The Governor did not violate [Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 16-4- 203(e)]. The reference to attorney client privilege sufficiently provided Mr. Aland notice of the grounds for the denial without citation to Wyoming Statute section 1-12-101(a)(i). Mr. Aland’s argument that there must be more information to satisfy the WPRA’s exception must fail, as more than adequate facts and reasons were given as to the subject matter and nature of the communications. Mr. Aland asked for very specific information, the responses matched his inquiries, and the subject matter and persons involved in the exchanges have been made known to him in the responses. To require more 26 here to support the log entry and assertion of attorney client privilege would obviate the privilege itself. [¶75] Mr. Aland next contends that the communications were not attorney-client privilege because they did not involve communications with an attorney. With respect to Document No. 1, Mr. Aland contends this was only handwritten notes by one individual, who is not an attorney. This argument ignores the substance of those handwritten notes. They were notes taken during a conversation with legal counsel and represented a record of the attorney’s communication with his client. With respect to Document No. 8, Mr. Aland contends the document did not involve attorneys at all and was instead a communication between two non-lawyers. This argument ignores both the substance of the document and the relationship between the memorandum’s author and the recipient. The Attorney General’s Office is the legal advisor of all elected and appointed State officers. Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 9-1-603(a)(v) (LexisNexis 2013). The memorandum recounts the legal advice a deputy attorney general communicated to a policy advisor in the Governor’s Office, and then forwards that advice to the Governor’s policy director. The memorandum contains no indication that the advice was forwarded beyond the Governor’s Office, which was the client in the communication, and we can therefore find no basis to reject the privilege. [¶76] Finally, Mr. Aland suggests that the Governor’s Office waived the attorney-client privilege by disclosing other documents relating to the same subject matter. We find no support for this argument in the record. There is no indication that the records the State disclosed contained the withheld legal advice or that the Governor’s Office shared the legal advice with anyone outside the office. [¶77] The State has met its burden of showing that Document Nos. 1 and 8 are protected by the attorney-client privilege and we therefore hold that the documents were properly withheld.