We recently lost an open records request. The stated reason was because we had not included a copy of the request in our reply. That admittedly was a mistake, but the request was three sentences long and was accurately set out in our reply. Has anyone else lost a open records request on such a silly technicality?

In talking with lawyers at the AG's office, they admitted that they did not always handle things this way. But, a rising case load and a shortage of lawyers has resulted in their tossing out requests for any technicality they can find.

They used to do the courteous thing and ask for the governmental entity to fix the problem (e.g., send on a copy of the request). But, in this day of budget cuts, courtesy is the first to go.