GOVERNMENT TURNS TABLES BY SUING RECORDS REQUESTERS: AP reporting about a new trend in state bureaucrats doing their best bureaucratting. Not content to ignore or improperly deny public records requests:

Government bodies are increasingly turning the tables on citizens who seek public records that might be embarrassing or legally sensitive. Instead of granting or denying their requests, a growing number of school districts, municipalities and state agencies have filed lawsuits against people making the requests — taxpayers, government watchdogs and journalists who must then pursue the records in court at their own expense.

The lawsuits generally ask judges to rule that the records being sought do not have to be divulged. They name the requesters as defendants but do not seek damage awards. Still, the recent trend has alarmed freedom-of-information advocates, who say it’s becoming a new way for governments to hide information, delay disclosure and intimidate critics.

These people keep forgetting that silly rhetoric about “government of the people, by the people and for the people.”