From the Charlotte Observer (3/11/12): When Time Warner Cable heard that the town of Wilson was seeking a federal stimulus grant to enhance the broadband Internet service it provided, the company turned to a basic law for help assessing the business threat.
A lawyer representing the state’s cable association filed a public records request with Wilson leaders in the fall of 2009, using North Carolina’s sunshine laws to see what the town promised in exchange for the $19 million grant.
“It was obvious to us,” said Mark Prak, a Raleigh lawyer who pursued the records for the N.C. Cable Telecommunications Association. “It was our government seeking to get into a competitive business. We had a right to know.”
The trade group, whose largest member is Time Warner, is one of a growing number of private enterprises turning to the public records law in recent years to settle beefs with government or to collect information they can use to make money. Lawyers who practice First Amendment law say their practices are increasingly bending toward the corporate client, offsetting losses among media clients that have shrunk as the economy faltered.