By Catherine Komp, Engagement Director
Pate McMichael, the new director of the NC Open Government Coalition, isn’t daunted by the erosion of government transparency in North Carolina. He sees the rollback as a call to action that motivates him everyday.
“The partisanship that’s going on is distracting from the fact that we are losing access to speak truth to power, to hold our government accountable,” said McMichael. “That should disturb everybody when lawmakers suddenly decide they don’t have to do what generations of lawmakers did before them and respect the public records law.”
Originally from Georgia, McMichael’s worked as a journalist and educator in a number of swing states and finds that many communities are facing the same challenges in keeping public records public. He’s been digging into the history of public records law here in North Carolina, and has plans to use next year’s 90th anniversary of the measure to raise more awareness about its importance to a functioning democracy.
“It’s really interesting how they got it through the legislature and the fact that it didn’t seem to be all that controversial in its day. There was not a big fight over it. If anything it was viewed as a common sense solution to a long term problem of not having good record keeping.”
Today we chat with Pate about his background, his new role with the Coalition and as a professor at Elon University, and the challenges and opportunities surrounding open government in North Carolina.
NC Local: First, welcome to North Carolina. How are you getting to know the Tar Heel State?
Pate McMichael: I’m getting to know it mostly through where I live, which is down near Hillsborough. It’s a great place to hit up different parts of the Triangle and even some of the Triad. On weekends, I’ve been visiting various communities, getting to know the area.
We also have a hotline, and I get calls from all over the state, which requires quite a bit of research. With 100 counties in North Carolina, I’m obviously not familiar with every one, but I’ve enjoyed that a lot. It’s given me the chance to meet a lot of really interesting people from very different backgrounds, and that’s been probably the most helpful.
NC Local: I’d like to ask more about your engagement with the community through the hotline, but first, let’s step back a bit. What attracted you to this position leading the Open Government Coalition? We’ve faced a number of recent setbacks in North Carolina around public records and transparency. Why interested you in a role that is so big and can be really frustrating in terms of forward progress?
Pate McMichael: I’ve always lived in swing states. I’m originally from Georgia, and I was living in Arizona before taking this position. It feels like a very relevant role because we’re in these very divided communities, but we still have a democracy we need to preserve and protect.
Some of the things that have gone on in North Carolina are scary from a democracy standpoint, because some of our rights have been eroded, particularly under the public records law. Getting in here and being an advocate for open government is appealing, especially in these troubled times we’re in, because it gives us some purpose and it gives us a way to do what we should be doing as journalists, as people who rely on the First Amendment.
It’s also a great way to channel my passion for open government and open records. As a professor, I was often spread across many topics and platforms. This really gives me a lane that I enjoy and feel comfortable in.
NC Local: You’re originally from Georgia, and most recently served as associate director of the journalism school at the University of Arizona in Tucson, and I think you were in California before that. Is that correct?
Pate McMichael: Yes, I moved out west for a job at California State University, Chico, and I loved that job. I was the student media advisor for The Orion, a legendary student newspaper. I probably wouldn’t have left but the pandemic was very cruel to regional public schools like Chico, which has just a small journalism program anyway. Job security was a big factor in my decision to move.
That said, spending five years out west was great, and now coming back home and I’m closer to family again. This position is perfect for that.
NC Local: Based on your experiences in other states, how does North Carolina compare in terms of public records access and open government? Is there anything from those states that could be implemented here?
Pate McMichael: Every state has real problems, and I was very surprised to see how ineffective public records laws were in California in particular. I think that would surprise some people. We had real trouble getting information particularly from law enforcement agencies but also from institutions of higher education that are public. It was often, if there’s any way to misinterpret what someone’s asking for, they will and that was surprising. And reminded me of how good I had it in Georgia.
When I was in Georgia and I wanted to see a Georgia Bureau of Investigation file, if it was closed, I could drive over and they’d give me a laptop to look at it and there was no charge. But it depends on the records you’re after. Every one of these states has whittled down what they disclose and often delays access.
So I see mostly similarities. And I did a lot of FOIA work before and I’m used to legislatures not being accessible to open records. But what they’ve done in North Carolina, there’s been a significant breach in what they had been doing and it is a little shocking. And I’m very concerned, particularly with law enforcement records all around the country, are going to continue to get harder to get.
NC Local: You mentioned getting to know the state a bit through the NC Open Government Coalition’s hotline, which is 336-278-5506 or via an online form. Are you hearing from regular citizens as well as reporters? What are they coming to you for?
Pate McMichael: Yes, I’ve been very surprised. On balance, I’ve probably had more calls from citizens than journalists, though I’ve had quite a few journalists reach out. It’s a mixed bag.
Sometimes it’s a businessperson trying to get information from a local government. I may not know their exact reasons, but I walk them through the open records statute—what’s required to be disclosed and what’s not. Other times, I hear from activists who want to access records, like a syllabus from a public institution, because they’re concerned about class content. It’s surprising that some institutions are refusing to disclose those records, citing copyright. Seeing strategies to deflect or delay open records requests is amazing to see in practice.
I’ve also had people struggling to access information about themselves or facing high fees—sometimes upwards of $200. It’s an eclectic mix of reasons why people call us. Occasionally, people call the wrong place, but often I remind them we’re not lawyers and cannot provide legal services. Most people understand that. They really just want us to walk them through best practices and make savvy decisions about how to get information in a timely manner.
NC Local: Are you seeing any bright spots? I know reporters often face delays, but some localities, including here in Asheville, have a public repository for requests. You can see what’s been filed, what’s pending, and access filled requests and documents.
Pate McMichael: I’ve seen a couple of those portals, and I really like that kind of transparency, I would applaud them for doing that. It’s a bright spot in a darker story. There is a process in place, and even when people are asked to pay fees, sometimes there’s a decent reason why and there’s often room for negotiation. However, the fees can sometimes be inflated, which is a concern.
My biggest concern is some of these institutions are relying on exemptions that really don’t apply. The personnel exemption has become a go-to when there’s embarrassing information that should be disclosed. That’s where we are limited—we can only take people so far before they need legal counsel. We have lawyers on our board, but at the end of the day we’re not there to file suit or be a legal defense fund. Sometimes, I feel I’ve given people all I can, and they’re going to have to continue the fight on their own. I do not like that feeling.
That said, there are communities disclosing records and doing it well. Surprisingly, I didn’t get as many calls during the election as I expected. I think that’s because there were so many lawyers involved that everyone was on their best behavior but I expected more. I would applaud the state for that. My phone was relatively quiet, with only a few exceptions.
NC Local: Right and in recent years, some election-denier groups have used disruptive records requests as a strategy to overwhelm Board of Elections offices.
Pate McMichael: Yes, I’ve seen and heard about that strategy. Moving forward, I want to engage more with records custodians to understand the problems they’re facing. Sometimes, they’re overwhelmed by numerous requests and feel targeted. Other times, these communities lack the resources or prioritization to manage requests effectively. Every situation is different.
NC Local: There have been significant changes here in North Carolina, like the 2023 budget bill that included a sweeping change to public records practices, giving lawmakers control over maintaining, releasing, destroying, or even selling their records. Since then most lawmakers haven’t been responsive to news outlets including the News & Observer and Anderson Alerts. And then we had the recent “Disaster relief” bill, which was drafted in secret, released an hour before debate and was more about changing power in the executive and judicial branches to favor Republicans. What advice do you have for journalists and the public seeking to shine a light on these very undemocratic practices?
Pate McMichael: We all want to know more, right? Those are very controversial pieces of legislation and to see Republican representatives vote against it because there wasn’t enough time to digest and make sense of why certain things were in there that probably shouldn’t have been.
What I always recommend is first, use the law and make people in your community aware that you’re willing to file open records requests. Depending on where you are, you may be dealing with custodians of records who don’t receive as many requests as they do in Wilmington or Charlotte. So how you go about doing it is just as important as what you’re trying to seek out. A narrowly tailored request, one that is asking for something pretty specific, is going to be more successful than something that is broad, which may have a lot of gray interpretations.
That’s not specific to a piece of legislation but regarding the state legislature, we need to take a hard stand that when they’re meeting in open session, these meetings are recorded and accessible to the public.
If there’s interest in new legislation to bring back what the open records law was and should be, that will take public support. People are going to have to vote for this if they really value it.
Next year will be the 90th anniversary of North Carolina’s public records law, and I’ve been doing a lot of research on it and it’s a very interesting story: why it was created, when it was created and I look forward to sharing that. Why was it that In 1935, this state joined just a handful of states in giving the public this very broad access to public information? The short story is it was done mostly by archivists and historians who were seeing public records being destroyed in every community and realized we were going to lose something a lot more valuable than a piece of paper if we didn’t do something.
And I think that’s where the public needs to get back to. The partisanship that’s going on is distracting from the fact that we are losing access to speak truth to power, to hold our government accountable. That should disturb everybody, when lawmakers suddenly decide they don’t have to do what generations of lawmakers did before them and respect the public records law.
NC Local: The 90th anniversary is in 2025?
Pate McMichael: That’s right. It is cool. It’s really a cool story. The National Archives building was built right around the same time and this was right in the heart of the depression. It’s not the time most people would think that they would decide to expand access to information. But they did. It’s really interesting how they got it through the legislature and the fact that it didn’t seem to be all that controversial in its day. There was not a big fight over it. If anything it was viewed as a common sense solution to a long term problem of not having good record keeping.
The original statute is on our website. It’s quite an intriguing read, it’s more forward-minded than I would have guessed they would have been at that time.
NC Local: That is great, and definitely something to mark and amplify this year. What are some ways news organizations could engage communities about the importance of open government and transparency?
Pate McMichael: Number one way is please share the public records that are the backbone of your reporting. Use tools like DocumentCloud to make public records visuals in the story, and accessible to the public. Even if it’s just a small group that want to read the original material, I think when we do that as journalists, it gives us more transparency with our readers and gets us back to some of those standards that honestly we’re losing. We’re not seeing as many corrections as we used to, we’re not seeing as thorough captions as we used to and all these things were done to be very transparent with the public, to help them understand our process.
I also encourage folks to take advantage of training opportunities like our NC News & Information Summit. Any journalist that feels like they need more training, I encourage you to reach out to us. I will meet with you one-on-one, I will come to your newsroom. I’m here to be an advocate for our law and for journalists in our community.
There are already journalists doing public records well. I try to keep track of all the people requesting public records and as I get more support, I really want to highlight their work. But I also just want to be knowledgeable about it because it was surprising to me to see people fighting very hard to get body-worn camera footage, people having to get lawyers and sue for failing to disclose public records. Just yesterday, I got a request about these new technologies to read license plates. Of course, AI will accelerate this as well. Our ability to know what our government is doing with those technologies is more important and journalists are going to have to be the ones asking those questions.
NC Local: What else is on your priority list for 2025, for the Coalition and your journalism classes at Elon?
Pate McMichael: My immediate goal is to raise some funding and shore up the Coalition’s solvency, because as any organization we have to have money to continue to operate and be successful. Number two celebrating the public records law’s 90th anniversary is another priority, and we can do that through the Summit, which we want to be the go-to event for NC journalists, including students. I also want to involve Elon students and faculty in the Coalition’s work, leveraging the university’s resources to engage the next generation of journalists. We have to be conscious that even though there have been setbacks, there’s a whole new generation coming up, and we should be trying to inspire them too, while also being very real about the challenges they’re going to face.
Connect with the NC Open Government Coalition:
❓Have a question about accessing public records? Call the hotline at (336) 278-5506 or fill out this form.
🌞 Know individuals or groups doing notable work to improve government transparency in North Carolina? Nominate them for the Sunshine Awards.
🏅Know a collegiate journalist or newsroom whose work exemplifies the vital role of open meetings, public records, and press access in public life? Nominate them for The Frank Barrows Award for Excellence in Student Journalism.
