Shielding public employee birthdates isn't about privacy

The Washington State Legislature once again is attempting to make government records more obscure, this time by trying to shield public employee birthdates from disclosure with the introduction of HB 1888.

Rep. Zack Hudgins, of the 11th Legislative District and Javier Valdez from the 46th Legislative district, both Democrats, are the sponsors.

While proponents say they are most concerned with privacy rights and identity theft, this bill is really about a fight between public employee unions and the Freedom Foundation, a conservative think tank that uses public employee databases to inform empl...