Reporter Shauna Sowersby honored by Washington Coalition for Open Government
Shauna Sowersby, the state government reporter for The Olympian and McClatchy’s other Washington state news providers, was honored by the Washington Coalition for Open Government on Friday.
WashCOG bestowed Sowersby and Crosscut reporter Joseph O’Sullivan with the Kenneth F. Bunting Award for their collaborative and comprehensive reporting on the state Legislature’s use of “legislative privilege” to deny the public access to lawmakers’ records.
Sowersby and O’Sullivan published more than two dozen stories on statehouse transparency in 2023 — stories that alerted the public to lawmakers’ secrecy maneuvers, WashCOG wrote in its award summary.
“Over a year’s time, the pair collaborated, using public records and dozens of interviews to tell the story of how lawmakers were silently exempting everything from deliberative documents to embarrassing content, why they decided to use it, and how the exemption was crafted.
“Shauna and Joe also demonstrated through public records and interviews how powerful lobbying agencies can influence transparency laws and how at least one executive branch agency secretly had a “legislative privilege” policy on their books. That agency has since rescinded the policy.”
Sowersby received the award at WashCOG’s annual Sunshine Breakfast at T Mobile Park in Seattle. The coalition also distributed its new special report, “Your Right to Know.” The report is also available online at washcog.org.
WashCOG also honored Seattle attorney Michele Earl-Hubbard with the Toby Nixon Award for her long-term commitment to the cause of open government. Earl-Hubbard helped launch WashCOG in 2002 and went on to hold leadership positions with the nonprofit.
The coalition’s James Andersen Award was given to Tacoma attorney Joan Mell for her work representing the coalition in its successful lawsuit against the Washington state Redistricting Commission for violating the state Open Public Meetings Act. She is also WashCOG’s attorney in its lawsuit against the state Legislature for claiming a “legislative privilege” to withhold records from the public.
The coalition also unveiled a new Jim and Birte Falconer Shine the Light Award, which it gave to Seattle Times reporters Sydney Brownstone and Taylor Blatchford. They used public records to unearth the heartfelt and haunting stories about the lost patients of the former Northern State Hospital outside of Sedro-Woolley.
The Washington Coalition for Open Government is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization founded in 2002 that advocates for public records, open meetings and informed citizens.
