The following article was originally published in the Ohio Capital Journal and published on News5Cleveland.com under a content-sharing agreement.
Responding to a media request to obtain the amount taxpayers paid for the governor’s security detail at 2022’s Super Bowl, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled in a 4-3 decision that the information is not for public review.
The Cincinnati Enquirer requested the information through a public records request in February 2022, but were rebuffed by the Ohio Department of Public Safety and the governor’s office, which said releasing the information would compromise future security for Gov. Mike DeWine.
The request asked for “travel and expenses for troopers and/or staff attending the 2022 Super Bowl in Los Angeles, CA, with Gov. DeWine” and expenses for overtime pay, air travel, hotel and vehicle rental costs.
The denial led to a lawsuit , thus ending up in the hands of the Ohio Supreme Court.
To the state’s highest court, the Enquirer’s attorneys argued expenses from the Super Bowl trip don’t contain “information directly used for protecting or maintaining the security of a public office against attack, interference or sabotage,” contradicting arguments by the state attorneys, who said the documents were “security records.”