Idaho Conservation Leage staff members Justin Hayes and Lauren McLean

received the 2004 Max Dalton Award of $1000 and a commemorative plate for

the ICL office. Photo on desk is the late Max Dalton. ICL pledges to use the

$1,000 toward the group's public education efforts on obtaining public records.

Conservation League Wins Dalton Award

The Idaho Newspaper Foundation has named the Idaho Conservation League as the 2004 winner of the Max Dalton Open Government Award. ICL will receive a $1000 check and commemorative plaque from Tom Grote, Executive Director of the Foundation. A.L. Alford Jr. is the INF president. Seven nominees for the annual FOIA honor were reviewed by the INF judging committee that was composed of INF officers and former Dalton award winners Lee Halper, Patti Gora and Sharon Ullman.

The Conservation League's active lobbying on two major Open Records bills in the 2004 legislative session was noted by the judges as key reasons for their decision. HB 682 sought to strip feedlot nutrient management plans out of the public records;HB 797 sought to broadly exempt any records that might have anything to do with research from records requests. The Idaho Conservation League was an active user of FOIA recors requests in their mission: " to protect the clean air and clean water on which every Idahoan depends." They acted as a watchdog group on activities of the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality and the Idaho Department of Agriculture in regulating industries and individuals that affect pollution of state waters and air spaces.

INF gave the Dalton contest Runnerup position to Valley Advocates for Responsible Development (VARD), a Teton county citizens' coalition that won a significant District Court ruling that set a clear judicial precedent for a key provision of Idaho's Open Meetings law. That provision forbids any private conversations or discussions by a public agency when those private conversations are directly related to a later voted decision of the agency. VARD's lawsuit against Teton County challenged a land development decision by county officials during an illegal meeting on that issue.

Athol resident and Sagle Fire District Commissioner Don Sanders also recived a Dalton committee recognition as third place nominee.

Atlanta Highway Commissioner Charles Smart was nominated by his town's citizens for his efforts to keep the Atlanta Highway District's meetings and records open to the public. The nomination letter said:"Mr. Smart has spent hundreds of hours educating himself, soliciting input from citizens, and reading the statutes concerning how to conduct meetings and ensure access to public records."

A Boise resident,David Frazier, was a nominee credited with ": attending dozens of Boise City Council meetings annually to monitor the public meeting process as a citizen advocate for open government and accountability." Frazier personally sued and won an injunction to stop the City of Boise from actions to build a multi-million-dollar police station without the required vote of the people.

State Representative Tom Trail of Moscow was nominated by a fellow Moscow resident for what James B. Gamblin called " his crusade to open all meetings of the Idaho Legislature".

Jennifer L. Anderson nominated United Vision of Idaho. She wrote: "Under Director Jim Hansen, a knowledgeable and astute former State Representative,UVI has challenged and continues to challenge public officials around closed meetings and closed records; they monitor when public hearings are required by law and to ensure that such meetings are held and sufficient notice is given to the public.

The Snake River Alliance was nominated for its open government effort since 1987. The group is prominent for its frequent FOIA challenges to the U.S,Department of Energy's open meetings and records practices in their oversight role on the Idaho Nuclear Energy Laboratory site in Eastern Idaho.