DHS appeals order on AG files

The state Department of Human Services on Friday appealed a judge’s order to release previously redacted portions of Attorney General Leslie Rutledge’s personnel file from when she worked at the agency.

The appeal was made even though the eight additional pages from Rutledge’s time as a DHS attorney on children and family services cases were already released this week — both by the agency and by Rutledge herself.

The Republican attorney general stated when she turned her records over to reporters that she thought the case set a bad precedent that DHS should appeal.

A spokesman for the agency, Amy Webb, rejected the notion that the decision to appeal had been influenced by Rutledge’s comments.

“This decision was a DHS decision,” Webb said in an email.

Chris Burks, the attorney for the Democratic Party of Arkansas who sued for the records, called the appeal “very silly.”

“They already lost, they turned over the records and now they’re mad about losing,” Burks said. “It’s sour grapes.”

Much of Rutledge’s record was released in 2014, during her first campaign for attorney general. But some documents were kept private.

In a hearing Monday in front of Pulaski County Circuit Judge Timothy Fox, lawyers for both Rutledge and DHS argued that the records — which contained employee evaluations — should not be released because Rutledge voluntarily quit the agency in December 2007.

Personnel records are generally exempt from the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act if a state employee departs voluntarily, but not if they are fired.

But Rutledge’s personnel file was amended after she left to state that she was terminated due to “gross misconduct.”

Due to the “gross misconduct” mark on her record, Fox said the records weighed on the side of public interest.

In his written order, he made no conclusion of whether Rutledge had been fired or not.

“This is the sort of thing that can stifle good and honest people from wanting to work in public service,” Rutledge told reporters Wednesday.

This week, DHS admitted that it had erred in the handling of Rutledge’s record when she left the agency, and said she should have been notified after an adverse action was placed in her file.

“We educate our employees on our policies and require that they review them and certify that they reviewed them,” Webb said in an email Friday. “The expectation is that they will follow them. If they don’t and we learn about that we can coach them and re-educate them.”