The Public Records Officer Podcast

The Public Records Officer Podcast
Fighting for the People’s Right to Know.

From public records battles to quiet cover-ups, from deleted chats to documents they hoped you’d never see... The Public Records Officer Podcast (PROP) exposes the ways power hides from the people it serves.

Hosted by open government advocate, a former elected official, state government public information officer and communications director Jamie Nixon, this show pulls back the curtain on the tactics used by public agencies to avoid transparency, and highlights the citizens, journalists, and legal warriors fighting back.

Season One investigates the ontologically shocking story of how Washington State agencies used Microsoft Teams to automatically delete public records after just seven days, raising questions of legality, accountability, and who gets to decide what the public has a right to see.

Each episode blends documents, depositions, interviews, and digital trails with sharp commentary and a sense of civic urgency. Whether it’s a modified invoice, redacted emails, or a policy crafted to vanish before a subpoena hits... The PROP is here to shine a light where the law demands it.

Featuring interviews with journalists, attorneys, and the officials who tried to sound the alarm before it was too late.

The truth doesn’t expire in seven days.

Recent Episodes

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Aug. 26, 2026

Ep. 23 WEST v. WA GOP

Arthur West and Washington Republicans wanted basically the same thing: get the state’s new Public Investment Impact Disclosure off Initiative 645. So naturally, the Washington State Republican Party responded by portraying West as a vulnerable “non-lawyer” who got tricked into screwing up everybody else’s case. There’s just one problem: the hearing was televised. In Episode 23, Jamie checks the tape, digs into Arthur West’s absurdly deep history of pro se appellate litigation, follows a defam

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Aug. 13, 2026

Ep. 22 Wait Until You Hear This One

What happens when you walk into court for your own Public Records Act case and accidentally stumble into an election scandal? In this episode of the Public Records Officer Podcast, Jamie Nixon tells the bizarre story of how a forgotten coat and tie left him sitting in a Thurston County courtroom for Elduen v. Grays Harbor County — where Judge Christine Schaller said a Grays Harbor election was not properly conducted, described conduct as apparently intentional and willful, found bad faith and a

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July 27, 2026

Ep. 21 'People Like Jamie Nixon' - The Requesters Are Not the Problem

After Jamie Nixon’s Seattle Times op-ed on disappearing government communications, the comment section delivered a familiar response: the real problem is not failed preservation, broken technology or leadership neglect. It is the people asking for the records. In this episode, Jamie takes on claims that Washington’s Public Records Act is too expensive, too burdensome and too easily exploited by “people like Jamie Nixon.” He examines why critics begin with the requester instead of the official

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July 6, 2026

Ep. 20 DOL 2: Delete Another Day

Episode 20 continues our two-part look at the Washington Department of Licensing’s Administrative Law Office. In Part One, we covered the February 12, 2025 Teams chat where DOL hearing examiners discussed petitioners, attorneys, hearing tactics, order language, and a joke about hitting an attorney with a car hard enough to hospitalize him. Five days later, Governor Bob Ferguson suspended Washington’s automatic deletion of Teams chats. Now, in “Delete Another Day,” we look at what happened

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July 2, 2026

Ep. 19 Seven Days To Die

Five days before Governor Bob Ferguson ordered a halt to Washington’s automatic deletion of Teams chats, a group of Department of Licensing hearing examiners were talking in Teams as if the walls had no memory. They discussed petitioners, attorneys, hearing strategy, objections, order language, and one hearing examiner even suggested that another could “help us all out” by hitting an attorney with her car. Under the state’s seven-day deletion policy, that chat may have been headed for the dig

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June 21, 2026

Ep. 18 The Watchdog's Blind Eye 2: Even Blinder

In this sequel to “The Watchdog’s Blind Eye,” Jamie Nixon examines how the Washington State Auditor’s Office tells citizens it lacks authority to audit public-records handling at other agencies — even though SAO has already performed public-records-related performance audits in 2008 and 2016. This episode walks through SAO’s Citizen Hotline Audit Request denials, the selective carve-out in the Bainbridge Island hotline matter, the removal of “Records” from the hotline’s public-facing category

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Reviews

Strong start

"Perfect combination of serious material delivered with enough satirical humor to keep you interested. Looking forward to listening to future episodes."

Anon | July 21, 2025

Great podcast about our lawsuit!!

"Thank you for bringing this case to light! I love that you use the actual statements from the judge. We filed our first PRR request Oct 30, 2023, and we did not receive the lot draw certification…"

Kerin Elduen | Aug. 14, 2026

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