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Baka dismissed from OGA suit
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Posted on Mar 29 2009
Acting Attorney General Gregory Baka has been dismissed as a defendant in Rep. Tina Sablan’s lawsuit over documents she requested under the Open Government Act.
Superior Court Associate Judge David A. Wiseman ruled in favor of the defendants—Baka, Gov. Benigno R. Fitial, and Finance Secretary Eloy Inos—to dismiss Baka because neither OGA request was addressed to the acting attorney general.
In October, Sablan wrote a letter to Fitial requesting copies of contracts related to the lawsuit against federalization, including the contract between the CNMI government and law firm Jenner & Block; documents relating to payments of the contracts; documents detailing funding sources for the contracts; and documents identifying where money was reprogrammed in order to finance the lawsuit.
Baka, as acting Attorney General, declined to produce the records on behalf of Fitial. He asserted that such documents are exempt from the OGA because they are related to a pending issue in the lawsuit and would not be discoverable by the United States.
Sablan then wrote to Inos requesting the same thing. She again was denied.
Neither letter was addressed to Baka, Wiseman said.
“Instead, Defendant Baka, acting on behalf of the Governor, responded to Plaintiff Sablan’s request. Therefore, it is clear that he cannot be held in violation of the Act because no request was ever directed to him,” Wiseman wrote in his ruling.
“Further, nothing indicates that a full and complete adjudication of this case is not possible without Mr. Baka. Nothing indicates that Mr. Baka was acting in any capacity other than the attorney who was representing Governor Fitial,” the judge added.
Sablan argued that Baka might be in possession of the documents. However, the possible possession of the documents does not warrant the acting attorney general to be a part of the suit, Wiseman said.
Wiseman has ordered the parties to appear on April 9 to address the main issue of whether Sablan is entitled to the documents that she requested.
