Tickets Still Available for Madison Andersen Breakfast

The Washington Coalition for Open Government will honor activists and journalists for their contributions to promoting open government at the annual Madison Andersen Awards Breakfast on Friday, Sept. 22 at the Washington Athletic Club.

This year’s honorees are the late Kris Passey, a WashCOG founder and local newspaper publisher, whose widow, Catherine, will accept the James Madison Award on his behalf; attorney William J. Crittenden, who is recognized for his work on access cases with the James Andersen Award; and Susannah Frame, whose use of public records laws in her reporting for KING 5, notably on issues involving safety at the Hanford Nuclear Site, earned her the Kenneth F. Bunting Award.

Kris Passey

The Madison Award recognizes Passey’s lifetime work as a journalist and two-time WashCOG president promoting transparency in government. He edited the Marysville Globe and Arlington Times for more than 20 years, and in retirement, taught journalism at Western Washington University. He passed away in November 2016 after a short battle with pancreatic cancer.

“Kris was overwhelmed to hear that he had been selected to receive the Madison Award. He felt so humbled to be honored by those he admired and held in such high regard,” Catherine Passey said. “I know that his work with WashCOG was extremely rewarding to him. He was grateful to have a vehicle to advance what he felt was his public duty as well as his personal conviction.”

William Crittenden

The Andersen Award honors Seattle attorney William Crittenden for his extraordinary work advancing WashCOG’s mission. Crittenden, who is of counsel at Groff Murphy, was previously a special deputy prosecuting attorney in King County. He is also a longtime WashCOG board member and he has represented numerous parties in court cases involving access and freedom of speech. He has done amicus work for WashCOG and the League of Women Voters.

Susannah Frame

The Bunting Award, named for the late local journalist Ken Bunting, will go to investigative reporter Susannah Frame of KING 5. The award recognizes journalists whose work uses, advances or educates about state access laws and promotes the public’s right to know, and Frame is being honored for her body of work and effective use of the Public Records Act in her reporting.

The entire KING 5 investigative news team will receive a Key Award, presented periodically by WashCOG to honor their contribution to transparency in government. In particular, it acknowledges their reporting on fiscal issues involving the state ferry system in the “Waste on the Water” series, and ongoing coverage of safety issues at the Hanford Nuclear Site.

Deadline for advance purchase of tickets is Sept. 15. The event begins at 7:30 a.m. and cost is $50 per person.