The Iowa Freedom of Information Council's annual meeting takes place Friday in Des Moines, so it has me reflecting on the status of public access to government.

The bottom line: It could be worse, but it could be a whole lot better.

The council, of which I am an executive committee member and past president, recently published an update on various legal actions involving government access.

There are some victories -- but at a cost:

* A citizen prevailed when Davis County Hospital tried to withhold payroll records. The public hospital in Southern Iowa petitioned the District Court to keep the information secret, arguing that it would not be in the public interest because it would embarrass hospital employees and make it harder for the medical facility to recruit and retain employees.

Sorry, the judge replied, Iowa law specifically states that "free and open examination of public records is generally in the public interest even though such examination may cause inconvenience or embarrassment to public officials or others."

However,

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perhaps to cause citizens to think twice before pushing too hard in seeking compliance with the law, the judge refused to make the hospital cover citizen Kenneth Turner's attorney fees.

* A year ago, I wrote about the heroic efforts of citizens of Riverdale to force their city to follow Iowa's open meetings and open records laws. They received an Iowa Freedom of Information Council citation.

The saga continues.

Riverdale earlier this year agreed to pay $9,000 in Allen Diercks' legal fees after he sued the city for breaking open-meetings laws. While looking into uses for city park land, a committee failed to post public notice of meetings and agendas and didn't bother to keep any minutes of its meetings -- all violations.

By the way, this is the third time Riverdale has come out on the short end of lawsuits.

* A case receiving more publicity involves a couple of former University of Iowa football players accused of sexual assault, Cedric Everson and Abe Satterfield. The university and Johnson County Attorney Janet Lyness fought release of public records related to the case.

The Iowa City Press-Citizen filed a couple of lawsuits, and this summer won access to the returned search warrants and affidavits in the case. Meanwhile, the mother of the accuser complained to the Press-Citizen about the university's handling -- or mishandling -- of her daughter's report.

* In 2007, the Better Government Association conducted a state-by-state study on accessibility to public documents. Criteria included response time, appeals, expedited review, attorney's fees and costs, and sanctions.

Illinois, Iowa and Wisconsin all received "F." But they weren't alone. Thirty-eight states did not pass. The Better Government Association is a tough grader. The top two states, Nebraska and New Jersey, only received "Bs."

Note that in the first two examples -- and in an aspect of the third -- the complainants seeking adherence to the law were not newspapers or TV stations. They were "everyday" citizens.

Though the news media often wave the banner about openness in government, it is the citizen (especially in the role of taxpayer) who can suffer from illegal secrecy.

Cooper's e-mail address is bcooper@wcinet.com.