Gwich'in Steering Committee v. State, Office of the Governor

OPINION

EASTAUGH, Justice.

I,. INTRODUCTION

Invoking Alaska's Public Records Act, an organization asked the governor of Alaska to produce documents relating to the governor's lobbying efforts to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for oil exploration and drilling. The governor withheld the documents, claiming privilege. In the ensuing administrative appeal, the superior court held that the deliberative process privilege protected the documents from disclosure. We affirm because we conclude that the documents are predecisional and deliberative, and because the requesting organization did not…