TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Stacey Shrader Joslin on Jan 5, 2023

Davidson County Chancellor Patricia Head Moskal this week ordered Gov. Bill Lee’s office to release certain documents pertaining to a no-bid contract, the Nashville Scene reports. The move was forced through a lawsuit by the Scene’s parent company FW Publishing, and reporter Stephen Elliott. The news source was seeking access to reports by consulting firm McKinsey & Co., which received a $3 million no-bid contract to evaluate the state’s post-COVID 19 reopening, its operations and “support to the Unified Command Group.” The Lee administration had claimed “deliberative process privilege” to keep the reports secret. Moskal ruled that the reports are public records under the Tennessee Public Records Act and that the act does not provide an exemption for such a privilege. Read more about the deliberative process privilege from the Tennessean.