Former editor fought for public record access

Some of Judy Dunwell Nichols' most important work as a journalist has involved fighting to keep public records open to the press.

Nichols is now an award-winning editor at The Arizona Republic. But she says the experiences she had as an editor and reporter on the Arizona Daily Wildcat "sparked" her interest in the importance of preserving journalists' access to these records.

Nichols' first major public records battle involved her effort to document allegations about ways several University of Arizona coaches were spending funds in the early 1980s.

Rumors that several coaches were paying off student athletes' loans and providing them with gifts had become a major issue on campus, Nichols says. When the university refused to turn over all relevant records, Nichols and Wildcat staffer Phil Matier sued university officials and the Board of Regents for denying them access to documents that detailed the UA coaches' spending. The suit was necessary because the athletics department "didn't take our request seriously. They just said no. They were capricious in their decision," Nichols says.

Nichols, who was a journalism graduate student at the time, says she knew that without those records, readers wouldn't have a clear understanding of the coaches' actions. She believed that it was her responsibility as a journalist to read all the records in order to provide readers with the information they needed about important the issues in the case.

"I wasn't doing my job if I didn't use them," she says.

The trial took place in December 1981 during finals week, a time when the Wildcat was not published. To keep the university community informed about the trial, Nichols and the Wildcat staff collected about $500 from students and faculty to print a special "extra" edition of the paper, Nichols says. Nichols believes this was the last time the Wildcat printed a special edition.

The judge ordered the university to turn over the requested documents, and pay $40,000 in legal fees for Nichols, Matier and the Wildcat, Nichols says.

"It was quite inspiring for us to be able to do that, even as student journalists."

UA Journalism Associate Professor James W. Johnson says, "Judy was an extraordinary student at an extraordinary time."

Nichols was named Outstanding Graduate Student by the Journalism Department.

While editor of the Wildcat, Nichols also met the man she married: Tom Nichols, a wire reporter at The Arizona Republic. Tom Nichols was also a UA journalism graduate student.

After she received her master's degree in 1982, Nichols became a reporter at The Arizona Republic, where she has been involved in several projects in which public records played a key role. When she started at the Republic, she expected to be there only a short time. She even told the staff not to bother adding her name to the year-long waiting list for the parking garage because she planned to move out of the state.

Instead, she has worked at the Republic for 14 years in various jobs, including features copy editor, night editor, bureau chief, assistant city editor and senior reporter. She is currently an online editor for Arizona Central, the Republic's online news operation.

Nichols has done extensive investigative reporting that has involved crucial public records searches.

Public records were an important part of an investigation she and reporter Victoria Harker conducted about employees in elder-care centers. Nichols and her colleague found several cases of abuse, neglect and financial exploitation of elderly residents through public records. Using computer-assisted reporting to analyze databases of complaints, Nichols and Harker also found that some workers in elder-care homes had criminal records, including convictions for murder and child molestation, Nichols says.

The stories resulting from the investigation led to many legislative changes, including a new law that requires potential elder-care employees to be fingerprinted before they can be hired, Nichols says.

The investigation also strengthened the Vulnerable Elderly Bill, which provided residents in elder-care homes with greater protection, Nichols says.

For their work, Nichols and Harker received third place in the public service category of the National Headliner Award, presented by the Press Club of Atlantic City.

Nichols also used public records extensively in a probe child abuse and neglect in state-licensed day care centers.

Following the release of her story, the legislature restored funding that had been cut from the state's budget for investigating and monitoring these day-care centers.

Nichols also became involved in a public records lawsuit at the Republic.

In the mid-90s, Nichols was investigating voter fraud and wanted to check voter registration lists against death records in Arizona. She asked for access to a magnetic- tape copy of the Maricopa County registration lists, but was told the Republic would have to pay $114,000 for the electronic version and $57,000 for a printed list of voters.

State laws require a 5-cent charge for each name on the voting register and a

10-cent charge for each name on an electronic medium.

"They never said it wasn't public information, they just didn't want us to have it in electronic form. They knew we would not be able to do the research we needed to do if it wasn't in electronic form," Nichols says.

"You can't do the same kind of analysis and comparison with other databases."

Nichols and Phoenix Newspapers, Inc. sued, asking the court to order that the electronic database of registered voters be sold at a reasonable cost of about $150, the amount it would cost to purchase enough computer tapes to make the electronic records.

The judge ruled against their request, stating that it was legal for government officials to charge such a high fee for the voter lists because there was a specific stature that allowed it, Nichols says.

Nichols and Phoenix Newspapers, Inc. appealed the ruling, but lost again.

Nichols believes the ruling "didn't meet the spirit of the public records law," which states that information should be provided at a reasonable fee.

"The information was public, it was created from a public record. The costs make it not public, because nobody can afford to pay for it," Nichols says.

"I was very disappointed in the final ruling of that case."