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Request seeks agency’s records dating back to 1776

The Columbian
Published: December 22, 2014, 4:00pm

EVERETT — The Snohomish County sheriff’s office has stopped trying to fill a public records request from a man who asked for every record going back to 1776 — even though that was 113 years before Washington became a state.

The county offered the man an initial installment and charged $1.50 for the cost of the DVD, said Sara Di Vittorio, the deputy prosecutor who advises departments on record requests.

When he refused to pay, the county considered his request abandoned, The Daily Herald reported Tuesday.

The man, who uses the online identities “Anonymous,” ”Alex Jones Teleprompter Technician,” and “Publius Publicus,” filed the records request in November. He demanded the sheriff’s office provide him copies “in whatever form available, of each and every document in your agency’s possession of any and every kind whatsoever without exception or limitation except as provided by narrow exception of law.”

His request stretched from that day — Nov. 18 — all the way back to July 4, 1776.

The county said it considered the request vexatious but had no choice but to attempt to comply. When offered the first installment, the man refused to pay the $1.50 the county routinely charges for copying materials.

In a Dec. 3 email, the man told the sheriff’s office the $1.50 was out of line, and that “by demanding payment without lawful authority to do so, you are effectively denying my request.”

He said he should be able to pick up the records for free or, as an alternative, the county should simply post them on its website for his retrieval.

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