Article: Staff reports to Taft ruled public record Top court justice says in the 5-2 decision that information in the reports was 'inconsequential.'

COLUMBUS -- Gov. Bob Taft tried to keep routine reports secret, claiming they fell under "executive privilege." But in a 5-2 decision released Friday the Ohio Supreme Court said that wasn't quite what it meant when it recognized the new power this year.

After looking at the so-called secret records, the court said the documents fall under the state's public records law.

Justice Paul Pfeifer described the records as "a collection of information so inane, so inconsequential and so insignificant, that taken together it could not generate one interesting newspaper story."

The case started with public records requests made last year by state Sen. Marc Dann, a Youngstown-area Democrat now ...

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