The Trump Administration recently announced that it would not release to the public the logs showing the names of visitors to the White House. Its position apparently is that FOIA does not require disclosure of the logs, because all White House records are exempted from that statute.

Would a record of visitors to a government office be disclosable under OPRA? No court has ruled on this issue, but it seems to me this would not be a public record. It’s settled law that officials’ appointment calendars are exempt under OPRA. A visitor log reveals the same confidential information as an appointment calendar–the identity of those who meet with government officials.