The Freedom Foundation, a Washington state-based think tank that seeks to lessen the power of unions in government, filed suit against the city in late 2017. The city failed to fulfill a public records request by the foundation for the names of its unionized employees. The foundation sought the names so it could inform employees about their rights under the law, regarding participation.
When the city first refused to release the names, the foundation appealed to the Multnomah County district attorney, as was its right. The DA sided with the foundation, telling the city it could not legally keep the names of unionized public employees secret.
Faced with this decision, the city doubled down, and sued the Freedom Foundation, who then counter-sued. So five months ago, the city released the records. That should have been the end of it, but this being Portland, of course it wasn't; they pursued their lawsuit against FF - right up until last Tuesday, when a judge dismissed their suit.
They fought the law, and the law won. They can't fill potholes, but they have plenty of cash to spend on frivolous litigation.
