Retiree scolds ESU over Sunshine law

Chris Hunter / The Bulletin

Lyon County Prosecutor John Marcus Goodman reads an email from retiring Journalism Instructor Larry Bereman on Friday at the Lyon County Courthouse. Bereman was critical of Goodman's handling of the Faculty Senate's April 1 secret ballot.

Retiring journalism instructor Larry Bereman believes the Faculty Senate violated Kansas open meetings law when it voted by secret ballot April 1 and that the university and the county prosecutor have responded poorly since.

“I believe that President (Michael) Lane acted properly in requesting that they re-vote on the matter with open ballots,” Bereman said, “but he should have gone further and issued a statement saying that they had violated the law and that they should take measures to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

He was especially critical of Lyon County Attorney John Marcus Goodman, who he feels is “muddying” the issue by failing to respond clearly to the situation. Bereman recently sent a pair of bluntly-worded emails to Goodman, whom he accused of “contributing to the confusion by implying the university can ‘decide’ in some way that the Faculty Senate here does not have to abide by the Kansas Open Meetings Act (KOMA) and the Kansas Open Records Act (KORA).”

Bereman, who retires at the end of this semester after six years of teaching journalism and advising the Sunflower yearbook, also wrote a letter published in the Bulletin last week in which he said he resented university officials “making an ass of Emporia State University.”

Goodman, interviewed last week, acknowledged the emails from Bereman but sidestepped the issue of whether the Faculty Senate was subject to KOMA. He refused to offer any opinion.

“I don’t think my personal opinion is relevant,” Goodman said.

When asked if there was a reason the senate would not be subject to KOMA, Goodman replied:

“I would like for them to explain from their perspective why. I won’t hypothesize what I think they think.”

Bereman, a practicing journalist before he came to Emporia State from Ponca City, Okla., said in an email interview with the Bulletin that he had never been forced to take legal action against a public body for Sunhsine law violations.

“Things can almost always be handled in less traumatic ways,” Bereman said. “In practically every situation I have been involved in, however, the commission allegedly violating the law has capitulated. I have been involved in situations when charges where actually filed against a commission -- in Hawaii in 1975, the entire Police Commission was charged with misdemeanors and had to answer to the charges in court.”

In his emails to Goodman, Bereman urged the prosecutor to give the university direction.

“You need to make it clear to this institution that the president and faculty senate can’t simply ‘opt out’ of abiding by the law,” Bereman wrote. “The law itself, Attorney General opinions and court cases all make it very clear that a body such as the faculty senate is subject to both KOMA and KORA, and that secret balloting is not allowed.”

Bereman also said he was waiting for a statement from the university about the Faculty Senate and KOMA. Shortly after the April 1 secret ballot, Goodman told the Bulletin he was expecting a statement.

“I cannot much realize what I may have said or not when I have never seen what was written,” Goodman wrote to Bereman. “I also, having seen previous copies of The Bulletin, recognize a lack of accuracy in reporting.”

During the interview last week, Goodman said he had not made any comment about expecting a university statement. He said he had no contact with Lane on the issue, and in fact had only received inquiries from Bereman and the Bulletin.

“Mr. Bereman made certain accusations against the university in an email,” Goodman said. “I told him, that if he intended to make allegations like that, he could submit them in writing. I did not recommend that he did, I did not suggest that he did. That was as nicely as I could put it. …That’s what Mr. Bereman is running around about.”

Goodman also claimed it was only Bereman making allegations.

“He (Bereman) made remarks about clearing up issues about whether he ought to file charges,” Goodman said. “He made remarks about peoples’ attitudes. He made remarks drawing conclusions. He made the statement ‘I can make this a formal complaint if you like.’” According to Goodman, Kansas Attorney General Steve Six is the only person who could decide if the Faculty Senate did violate KOMA. The Bulletin contacted the attorney general’s office several times after the April 1 vote, but was referred each time back to the Lyon County prosecutor.

In his email to Goodman, Bereman said he could file a formal complaint but would rather have the prosecutor discuss with the Faculty Senate the issue regarding the secret ballots.

“Whether or not I file a formal complaint with the Kansas Attorney General depends on Mr. Goodman’s response to my recommendation that he inform the faculty senate that they are subject to KOMA and that they have violated the law,” Bereman said.

Goodman, Bereman said, has not responded in a “sensible” way.

“He doesn’t really seem to be concerned about it. He could defuse the situation by issuing a statement that says the faculty senate violated the law, but that he will take no legal action because they have rescinded the action taken with secret ballots and re-voted in a proper way.”

Goodman said during the interview that he believed there was no reason for an investigation into the Faculty Senate. Goodman declined to say if laws were broken.

“If it has been resolved by the administration there is no need for action,” Goodman said. “If the Faculty Senate took it upon themself to do the same thing again possibly there would be a reason to look again at them.”

Goodman said that he had discussed the possible violations with Tracy Greene, university counsel. Bereman thinks Greene should have taken a more transparent and pro-active role in the issue.

“I am very disappointed in how this has been handled by university counsel,” Bereman said. “It should be counsel’s responsibility to make sure that things of this nature do not occur. She doesn’t seem to be interested in solve the problems that have arisen as a result of the violation committed by the faculty senate.”