Toby Nixon to head Sunshine Committee
MARCH 4, 2024 - Toby Nixon, a former state lawmaker and president emeritus of the Washington Coalition for Open Government, has been named chair of the state Sunshine Committee.
His appointment by Gov. Jay Inslee became official Feb. 29, 2024 and Nixon will chair the March 12 committee meeting. He will continue serving his emeritus role as a senior advisor to the WashCOG board and executive committee. His Sunshine Committee term ends in August 2027.
WashCOG President Emeritus Toby Nixon
Nixon said he always considered the Sunshine Committee, officially named the State Public Records Exemption Accountability Committee, as important. The panel was created at the former attorney general’s request in 2007 because of the rapidly growing number of exemptions to the public records law. The trend has continued, and today, there are about 650 exemptions. Meanwhile, the Sunshine Committee has struggled.
“People have been frustrated that the Legislature has been ignoring the committee’s work,” Nixon said. “Sometimes (members) couldn’t get anyone to introduce a bill, much less get it through the Legislature.”
Katherine George resigned from the Sunshine Committee last year in frustration, saying the Legislature had no interest in the panel’s recommendations. The attorney and WashCOG board member had worked on the committee for eight years.
Nixon’s biggest challenge will be getting the Legislature’s attention, she said, adding that he will be the first permanent chair who was also an open government advocate.
“Gov. Inslee deserves some credit for appointing an open government advocate as chair,” George said.
Nixon served as a Republican state representative from 2002 to 2006. His appointment in these politically divided times could seem to be an unusual choice for Inslee, a Democrat.
However, party affiliation hasn’t been the issue in the open records disputes. In both parties, some lawmakers support transparency while others have a different view of what that means.
Inslee pledged not to use the option of executive privilege and has upheld that promise. A dispute over whether lawmakers have a similar constitutional privilege has been making its way through the courts, and only a small group of lawmakers have said they will avoid using it or even disagree that it should exist.
Starting Goals
Toby Nixon’s top three goals as he begins as Sunshine Committee chair:
Work on new strategies for submitting bills that get the Legislature to act on Sunshine Committee recommendations.
Housekeeping goals, such as filling vacancies. He notes that legislators hold four seats, but it’s rare to see more than one at a time in meetings. “We need to figure out how to set the meetings so that those members will attend.”
Accelerate the committee’s work. It’s taken years to review some exemptions. The Legislature is currently adding new exemptions faster than the committee is reviewing old ones.
“From our perspective, there’s never been more frustration,” said WashCOG President Mike Fancher. Nixon’s appointment to the Sunshine Committee gives him hope.
“I cannot imagine a better steward of open government than Toby Nixon,” Fancher said. “He has a deep passion for openness, transparency and accountability in government. He’s also a good leader. He will lead the committee to find consensus.”
Agreement over the Public Records Act has been elusive for decades, and tension has grown in recent years with courts called in to resolve the issues.
The Legislature lost a Supreme Court case in 2019 when the court ruled that the Public Records Act applies to legislators just as it does other parts of government.
Soon after, lawmakers started denying the release of records based on “legislative privilege,” a concept with no clear definition in the constitution but which has gained favorable rulings from two Thurston County judges. WashCOG leaders anticipate the state Supreme Court will have to resolve the issue.
Nixon noted that the constitution indicates lawmakers are exempt from legal action regarding arguments made on the floor in open session, but these claims of “legislative privilege” go much further.
Many legislators are furious and hostile to the whole concept of transparency, and he is not sure how long it will take to change the environment. Nixon is hoping his political experience will help.
“I know intimately the issues of all the stakeholders. I feel I have the ability to bridge the gap,” he said “It’s still very hard. There are deep feelings on both sides, but also friends on both sides.”
Nixon said he will use his experience to look for common ground and solutions.
“We’ll make our best effort,” he said.
Nixon’s political experience and work with open government groups could make a difference, said David Zeeck, who retired as publisher and president of The Olympian, The (Tacoma) News Tribune and The Bellingham Herald media companies.
“The way he has behaved throughout his public life has been a model for someone in elected office,” said Zeeck, who now represents the state auditor on the Sunshine Committee and serves on the University of Washington Board of Regents.
Rowland Thompson, who is vice chair of the committee and executive director of Allied Daily Newspapers of Washington, said Nixon is the right person to lead the committee. His experience as an elected state lawmaker and Kirkland City Council member gives him a different perspective, and he is an expert on the Public Records Act, Thompson said.
“Hopefully, he can break the logjam in getting the Legislature to move on legislation — or at least have bills debated and heard,” Thompson said.
Fancher noted that elected officials sometimes start with good intentions regarding openness and transparency, but they often find solutions to issues that create problems of their own.
“WashCOG wants to work with the Legislature on behalf of open government, and I think Toby, in this role, will be a tremendous ambassador for that.”
Toby Nixon’s bio
Toby Nixon is a lifelong advocate for government accountability and transparency and joined the Washington Coalition for Open Government board in 2006. He was board president from 2007-2021 and now serves as president emeritus and as an advisor. His background is in the computer industry, and he moved with his family to Washington in 1993 to join Microsoft, where he worked for 30 years. He is a principal technical project manager for the Bluetooth Special Interest Group, which sets and controls standards for how Bluetooth works and how companies may build Bluetooth-enabled products.
Nixon was appointed as a state House member and was elected to that seat in 2002. He served through 2006. He also served on the Washington Open Government Task Force. He completed three terms as a Kirkland City Council member.
His awards include WashCOG’Washington Newspaper Publishers Association’s Freedom’s Light Award in 2006. In 2012, Nixon was inducted into the Heroes of the 50 States: The State Open Government Hall of Fame. That is a joint award from the Society of Professional Journalists and the National Freedom of Information Coalition recognizing contributions made by open government advocates in individual states.
In 2021, WashCOG presented him with its lifetime achievement recognition, the James Madison Award, renamed the Toby Nixon Award in his honor.
