CINCINNATI (The Ohio Newsroom) — Brian Ames has spent the last decade filing upwards of 160 lawsuits against local governments in the name of government transparency.
“I go find public bodies that are not following the Open Meetings Act, and I bring cases against them that require them to comply with the law,” he explained.
He’s sued school boards, budget commissions, boards of elections and village councils — everywhere from Hamilton County to Ashtabula — for failing to comply with the state’s sunshine laws, which are meant to ensure government transparency.
It’s garnered him a nickname — the Open Meetings Act Bounty Hunter — and drawn the ire of local governments across the state.
Ohio’s open government laws have two key parts: the Public Records Act requires government bodies to make records available to the public and the Open Meetings Act ensures governing bodies deliberate in public.
There are some exceptions for both, but Ames says many local governments aren’t in compliance.
“A lot of public bodies take the approach that, ‘We should exclude the public at every opportunity,’” he said. “That’s a sneaky approach.”
He files lawsuits for local government transparency
A former software engineer, Ames designed a system to find open government violations. When one comes up, he says he often tries to talk through the issue to help the public body follow the law.
Otherwise, he sues them. And normally, he says the body of government settles or he wins in court.
“I have, I would say, at least a 95% win rate,” he said.
Ames’ motivation for filing so many lawsuits is twofold.
For one, he says he doesn’t want local governments dishing out tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees if someone else catches the violation. Ames caps settlements $500 or $1,000 dollars depending on the offense.
For two, he says this work is in the public’s best interest.
“The public body itself benefits from complying with the law because they can be more trustworthy. They’re perceived to be more involved.”
But some public bodies don’t see it that way.
There are critics of the lawsuits
The Ohio Newsroom reached out to half a dozen superintendents and local representatives on boards that Ames has sued. Most didn’t respond or said they didn’t want to speak on the record for fear of being targeted in a future lawsuit.
The conversations, along with reporting in local publications, point to a few common themes.
For instance, many public bodies like the Columbiana County Board of Elections, Champion Township in Trumbull County, and the Hudson City School District have said it’s cheaper to settle with Ames than to litigate, so that’s why so many are choosing that route.
Some do admit missing nuances to open government laws and have made small changes accordingly.
A commissioner in Lorain County, for example, told the Chronicle that its budget commission is paying more attention to procedures now.
But others maintain they’ve done nothing wrong.
In a settlement agreement, West Geauga Schools’ Board of Education denied allegations of wrongdoing. And Superintendent Richard Markwardt told the Geauga County Maple Leaf that while he welcomes objective criticism, “I don’t think that accusations that are unfounded are welcomed.”
Either way, people say they didn’t set out to break the law, and that these lawsuits ultimately come at a cost to constituents. In the case of school boards, for example, they take away from a pool of money otherwise used to educate kids.
Ames’ response to the critics
Ames has heard these criticisms, but says complaints with the law should be taken up with legislators, not in court.
“They go into court and say, ‘This is so unfair. Mr. Ames is bounty hunting when we’re just trying to do our job,’” he said. “Well, nobody got nailed by a bounty hunter that wasn’t doing anything wrong. So it doesn’t excuse their wrongdoing.”
Ames has taken 17 cases all the way to the Ohio Supreme Court. Just a few months ago in October, the court ruled in his favor that Crestwood Local Schools, southeast of Cleveland, was required to release the results of a staff mental health survey.
Earlier this month, Ames filed a new case against West Geauga Local Schools. He says the district isn’t correctly providing notices for its board meetings.
And he doesn’t plan on stopping these lawsuits any time soon.
“The public doesn’t know a lot of this stuff,” he said, “so, it’s like, what can I do to raise the awareness out there?”
He already has an eye out for his next case.