Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Tribune sues for access to GOP convention bid

By CARRIE WEIMAR
Published June 2, 2006

TAMPA - The Tampa Tribune filed a lawsuit Thursday to compel the Tampa Bay Convention & Visitors Bureau to disclose its bid for the 2008 Republican National Convention.

The suit, filed in Hillsborough Circuit Court, alleges the agency is violating public records laws by refusing to make public details of the proposal.

Paul Catoe, the Convention & Visitors Bureau's chief executive officer, said he could not comment on the suit because he hadn't seen it Thursday evening.

"We'll have to sit down with our lawyers and go from there," Catoe said. The bureau released a statement Thursday saying it would brief the media on details of the bid Monday.

Tampa is one of four cities that submitted bids for the convention, scheduled for Sept. 1-4, 2008. The others cities are Cleveland, Minneapolis and New York.

The site selection committee is to name the finalists by July 1 and announce a winner in January 2007.

The Tampa Tribune began asking for copies of the bid as early as May 18, but the representatives from Convention & Visitors Bureau refused to provide them, saying they are exempt from public records law, according to the lawsuit.

But Gregg Thomas, an attorney for the Tribune, said the exemption doesn't apply because the Republican National Committee's request for the bid was sent to the city of Tampa, a public entity, before it was delegated to the Convention & Visitors Bureau.

"All of the reasons for having public records laws apply here," Thomas said. "It affects the security of the city and the inconvenience of the citizens."

The St. Petersburg Times also had requested a copy of the bid under state public records law.

Some elements of the bid have become public. According to supporting documents from the city, the convention would cost the city and other governments $12.7-million in direct expenses and in-kind services.

A majority of the expense would be for security, including $5.5-million for police and $3.7-million for barricades.

[Last modified June 2, 2006, 05:34:20]