Michael Gartner, a former president of the Iowa Board of Regents, has filed a 41-page lawsuit complaining that the Iowa Public Radio Board of Directors violated state law when it conducted a closed meeting last December before terminating IPR C.E.O. Mary Grace Herrington in February, the Des Moines Register is reporting.
The Board of Regents will next week consider a renewal of its operating agreement with Iowa Public Radio that includes a provision requiring it to follow state open meetings and open records laws, according to the Gazette in Cedar Rapids.
This is Gartner’s second such lawsuit, the Gazette also notes.
Herrington’s ouster was sparked at least in part by internal dissension over her decision last year to fire Jonathan Ahl, a respected news director at the station (Current, March 5).