WINTER 2005-2006 NEWSLETTER
GEORGIA FOI ACCESS
GEORGIA FIRST AMENDMENT FOUNDATION

Roy Barnes, former governor, to be guest speaker at Weltner Freedom of Information Banquet Jan. 28

By Tom Bennett

Atlanta, Jan. 18, 2005 – Roy E. Barnes, chairman of Barnes Law Group LLC of Marietta, will be the guest speaker at the Weltner Freedom of Information Banquet Jan. 28.

Barnes was the 2004 Weltner freedom of information honoree in this annual fundraising event of the Georgia First Amendment Foundation. This year’s honoree is his former Cobb County legislative colleague, now U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson.

Much of what occurs in open-government advocacy in Georgia today is an effort to slow steady erosion of what Barnes accomplished while he was governor from 1999 to 2002, and earlier as a state legislator off and on from 1976 to 1998.

His administration as governor pushed through and he signed laws requiring affidavits to justify having closed meetings; agencies to permit inspection and copying of public records within three business days; and governments to make electronic records open the same as those on paper.

Barnes and Augusta lawyer David Hudson wrote much of the law that has been codified in Title 50 of the Georgia code since 1981.

"He was the legislator we could always count on to beat back legislation that would restrict public access and open government, and be a defender of the good legislation," said Hudson, who has been general counsel for the Georgia Press Association since 1986.

Barnes’ return to private law practice in 2003 immediately placed him in the vanguard of the Georgia media bar. While representing the Marietta Daily Journal in 1997, he won a case forcing Cobb County officials to release the details of a deal with private companies to rebuild the county’s controversial $23 million waste recycling facility.

While he was earning his law degree at the University of Georgia, Barnes was so interested in studying about open government that the dean of the school named him "Sunshine Roy."

Sen. Johnny Isakson and Charles "Mickey" Feltus, this year’s choice for the Open Government hero award, will be the guests of honor at the fifth Charles L. Weltner Freedom of Information Banquet.

The banquet is set for Saturday, Jan. 28, 2006 at the JW Marriott Buckhead hotel, 5300 Lenox Road in Atlanta and adjoining Lenox Square. The hotel telephone number 404-262-3344. Business attire is appropriate. A reception with a cash bar begins at 6:30 p.m. with dinner promptly at 7:30 p.m. To contact GFAF for sponsorships and tickets, contact info@gfaf.org or phone 404-525-3646.

Throughout that day at the same Buckhead hotel, issues of press and speech freedoms will be among the lively topics of the Georgia Bar, Media and Judiciary Conference. This is an annual get-together among lawyers, reporters and judges seeking an informal means to let off steam, find common ground on press and broadcast issues. For more information about the conference, now nearing its second decade, contact the Georgia Institute of Continuing Legal Education in Athens at icle@iclega.org or telephone (706) 369-5664.