Tired of waiting two years in an open records request, a Wisconsin based advocacy group has filed suit in Oklahoma City against Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt.
The Center for Media and Democracy is accusing Pruitt’s office of violating Oklahoma’s Open Records law. The suit was filed in Oklahoma County District court.
“Scott Pruitt has withheld access to thousands of emails with businesses or organizations whose activities adversely affect the environment and other records of vital public interest for the past two years,” said Robert Nelson who represents the Center in the lawsuit. “His inaction denies the public ‘prompt and reasonable’ access to public documents and violates Oklahoma’s Open Records Act.”
The Center along with the American Civil Liberties Union are seeking more than 3,000 emails and other correspondence that Pruitt’s office had with oil and gas companies. The first request was made more than two years ago and there has been no response. The group claims it made nine open requests and the oldest was made in January 2015.
The Attorney General’s office responded with a statement, calling the suit “political theater.”
The lawsuit comes as Pruitt’s nomination to be the new Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency is about to go to the U.S. Senate.
Those who filed the suit are fearful the emails could be destroyed or lost if a judge doesn’t order the attorney general to produce them, according to a report in the publication ThinkProgress.org.