This morning, City Attorney Pete Holmes filed a petition in King County Superior Court asking the court to overturn an arbitrator’s ruling requiring the city to withhold the names of Seattle police officers who have been disciplined for misconduct on the beat.

Holmes argues that the ruling violates the state's public disclosure law, which requires the city to disclose the names to meet public records requests.

The police union says their contract prevents names from being released without a specific court order.

Holmes writes:

The Act requires the City to “make available for public inspection and copying all public records.”  Exceptions to this mandate are limited and must be narrowly construed. Failure to provide complete documents under the [disclosure law] subjects the City to financial penalties that are sufficiently severe to “'discourage improper denial of access to public records and [encourage] adherence to the goals and procedures dictated by the statute.'”