BGA sues Pace over driver/accident records

Better Government Association officials slapped Pace with a lawsuit Wednesday, claiming the agency is violating the Freedom of Information Act.

The nonprofit watchdog group in February asked Pace to release results of employee drug tests for 2010 and 2011 and police and accident reports involving Pace vehicles for 2010 and 2011.

Pace complied with the drug test request for 2010 but said no information was available for 2011. It denied the accident reports, citing FOIA exemptions regarding insurance claims and referred the BGA to local police departments.

As a taxpayer-supported agency, Pace is being “arrogant” for refusing to release such public records, BGA President Andy Shaw said.

Pace officials had no comment.

The lawsuit states that officials “feared BGA was investigating potential public safety issues at Pace and would publish a news story critical of Pace.”

Drug tests provided by Pace to the BGA indicate that 468 out of 470 tests were negative for drugs. One person tested positive for marijuana; details of the other test were unclear.

The BGA does have the option of appealing to the Illinois attorney general’s office but decided a lawsuit was the best route, investigator Robert Herguth said. The case was filed in Cook County court.