Group Sues Over Palin Speech Contract

A California open-government group wants to see the records relating to Sarah Palin's controversial planned visit to a Northern California university.

Californians Aware filed a lawsuit against California State, Stanislaus Friday for failing to disclose documents related to the June 25 event at the Turlock campus.

The group alleges the university ignored repeated requests to clarify whether it has Palin-related records in its possession, instead referring the request to the CSU Stanislaus Foundation, a nonprofit organization that raises money for the campus's scholarships, research and other projects.

"The university was given every opportunity to disclose the records before this suit was filed," said Kelly Aviles, an attorney for Californians Aware, in a prepared statement. "Unfortunately, university administrators chose to deny the existence of those records. Now, instead of using public funds for education, the university will spend those much-needed funds defending a lawsuit created by its own lack of transparency."

The lawsuit adds to the legal hoopla over the former Alaska governor's planned visit to the campus. Two students allegedly discovered the documents at the center of the controversy in a dumpster on campus. The university president asked police to investigate and said this week that the contract was stolen from a recycling bin in the school's vice president's office.

California Attorney General Jerry Brown's office said Tuesday that it's planning to investigate.