SEATTLE (AP) — Lawyers for Seattle deny that the city broke the state’s public records law after the mayor’s text messages were missing from a time that included large protests in the city following George Floyd’s murder. The city is countersuing The Seattle Times in response to a lawsuit alleging the city mishandled reporters’ requests for top officials’ text messages. The Seattle Times reports that in a formal answer filed Friday to the newspaper’s lawsuit, started in June, the city denied most legal contentions, including claims directly based on a city ethics investigation into a whistleblower’s complaint that found Mayor Jenny Durkan’s office violated the public disclosure law after discovering the mayor’s texts were missing for a 10-month period.
City of Seattle countersues newspaper in public records case
