Political Buzz - County appoints records ombudsman; Bunney honored

A place where people go to talk about politics.

Tuesday, June 3rd, 2008

County appoints records ombudsman; Bunney honored

Posted by David Wickert @ 05:28:12 pm

Pierce County Executive John Ladenburg has named Diane Braaten, his executive assistant, to be the county’s public records ombudsman.

Braaten will assist people seeking public records from the county. News of her appointment comes on the same day that County Councilman Shawn Bunney was honored for advocating for the ombudsman position and for work on other open government issues.

The Washington Coalition for Open Government gave Bunney its Key Award at the County-City Building this afternoon. The coalition is a nonprofit, nonpartisan group backed my news media and other open government supporters. The News Tribune is a sponsor of the coalition.

Bunney said the ombudsman position is needed to help people navigate a host of county agencies to get the information they need.

Braaten said it’s best for people to file their requests directly with the proper department (you can see a list of contacts here). But she’s available to help. You can reacher her at pcrecordsrequest@co.pierce.wa.us.

Categories: Pierce County, Open Government

COMMENTS:

No COMMENTS for this post yet...

Comments are not allowed from anonymous visitors. Please login or register to comment.

Political Buzz

A team of experienced reporters keep you updated on what's happening in political arenas at the city, county, state and federal levels. From presidential campaign visits to who's running for city council, we've got it covered.

Contributors

Niki Sullivan covers Tacoma city government. Before coming to Tacoma, she covered state government in Oregon. She is a regular contributor to the GritCity blog. Email Niki

Peter Callaghan is a local columnist. He’s covered the statehouse and state politics since 1981. Before joining The News Tribune in 1985, the Stadium High grad worked for newspapers in Everett and Lewiston, Idaho, and for The Associated Press in Olympia and Seattle. Email Peter

Joe Turner has covered state government and transportation issues since 1990. Since the Bellarmine grad’s arrival in the newsroom in 1978, he’s covered police, suburban cities, Tacoma City Hall, Federal Way City Hall and the Pierce and King county governments. Email Joe

David Wickert covers Pierce County government. Before coming to The News Tribune in 1998, he covered local government for newspapers in Illinois, Virginia and Tennessee. Email David

Jason Hagey covers politics. Before coming to The News Tribune in late 2000, he worked at newspapers in the Tri-Cities and Pendleton, Ore., covering city and county government, courts, crime and the occasional feature. Email Jason

Les Blumenthal has been covering Washington, D.C. for The News Tribune since 1990, focusing on issues and politicians involving the state. Before joining The News Tribune, he spent 13 years working for The Associated Press in Seattle, Illinois and Washington, D.C. Email Les

Hunter George is the local news editor who oversees coverage of state and county politics. Before coming to The News Tribune in 2001, he spent 11 years covering the statehouses in North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Washington state for The Associated Press. Email Hunter

John Henrikson is a local news editor who oversees City of Tacoma and education coverage. He's worked as a journalist in the Northwest for 19 years, supervising coverage and reporting on local and state government, the environment and growth. Email John

Local politics links

• Chris Mulick's Olympia Dispatch
• Brad Shannon's Campaign Trail
• Postman on Politics
• Sound Politics
• Horse's Ass
• Richard Roesler's Eye on Olympia
• P-I's Strange Bedfellows