The city of Portland lost Tuesday when Multnomah County Circuit Court Judge Pro Tem Thomas Christ dismissed its lawsuit against the Freedom Foundation. There were a couple of lessons in the defeat that should not be overlooked by other public agencies.

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.

The dismissal decision left the city with two choices. It could release the names of the employees, or it could sue. It chose to sue. The Freedom Foundation countersued, and in November the city released the records. Even so, the city did not drop its lawsuit. On Tuesday, the suit was dismissed.

The city argued its contract with the union promised that members’ names would not be made public. Instead, the dismissal effectively made two points:

Public agencies may not dismantle the state’s public record laws by agreeing with unions to keep legitimate public records secret. Contracts are contracts, to be sure, but the public’s right to know things allowed under law cannot be bargained away.

By and large, the names of public employees are legitimate public records. It is, after all, the public which pays public employees’ salaries and the public has a right to know who it’s paying for.