Media and media companies often receive a bad rap for biased reporting, monopoly of information, and not embracing technology. However, in the fight for open records, the media is a powerful ally.

According to the El Paso Times, attorneys working on behalf of El Paso Media Group and Newspaper Tree are asking a federal court to unseal documents relating to a case involving corrupt public officials. They also are requesting that future court hearings are opened up to allow oversight by the public, press, and legal professionals.

So far, nine people have pleaded guilty to charges relating to the investigation. The first public official to plead guilty was Travis Ketner, former chief of staff for El Paso County Judge Anthony Cobos. On June 8, 2008, Ketner pleaded guilty to three counts of conspiracy to commit mail or wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit bribery in attempts to manipulate district courts.

According to the motion, 35 of 80 people targeted by the FBI’s investigation are “past or current public officials” and “prominent community figures.”

“Since the first public official pled guilty, nearly all the Court’s documents and hearings have been sealed under court order, although, upon motion of Carl Starr, an earlier intervenor, the Court did make public some documents in redacted form,” the motion states. “That result, however, in Intervenor’s view did not comply with the mandate of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution because of its narrowness and the extraordinarily long period of secrecy.”

Secret documents, secret hearings, secret court dockets… what’s going on in El Paso??

Category: Corruption