The AP is reporting that there is a dispute between Ten. Governor Phil Bredesen and State Comptroller John Morgan over how to split up the duties for the Tennessee Open Records Ombudsman. The role of Ombudsman was recently appropriated $100,000. Gov. Bredesen would like one non-lawyer to be the Ombudsman with that person sending more complex questions to existing state legal staff. Morgan however wants the role to go to a number of people so that the job doesn't get associated with just one person. Bredesen disagrees with this plan--he wants one person to be the primary ombudsman.
Hopefully this will be worked out and the ombudsman in Tennessee will soon begin. Many other states and the federal government are looking at ombudsman, so in a sense, Tennessee will be somewhat of a lab experiment for other public records laws and the FOIA.
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