Paul Sunyak, an adjunct instructor in West Virginia Universitys P.I. Reed School of Journalism, served as the lead reporter on an award-winning newspaper series to make members of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives subject to the states Open Records Law.

The Herald-Standard, a 29,000 circulation newspaper in Uniontown, received the Pennsylvania Newspaper Associations annual PNA Foundation Public Service Award for its entry entitled”Open Records Fight.”The award was given earlier this month.

The newspaper filed suit in Commonwealth Court against state Rep. Larry Roberts. Roberts declined to produce copies of taxpayer-paid phone bills, Sunyak said.

“After we were told that’s because state representatives are not covered by the Open Records Law, we filed the court case,”Sunyak said.

Although the newspaper lost in Commonwealth Court, it is appealing the decision to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to try to open House expenditure records.

The PNA award pits all Pennsylvania newspapers, regardless of size, against each other.

Sunyak won the award in 1994 for his coverage of the Fayette County Housing Authority. The stories lead to the indictment of the executive director of the authority. He pleaded guilty to orchestrating a kickback and bribery scheme with housing authority contractors and received 37 months in federal prison, Sunyak said.

According to one of the judges, the Herald-Standards submission best reflected the values of what journalism is all aboutshining the light into places that powerful people are trying to keep dark.

“It is courageous, dogged, determination and well done. It addresses an egregious case of political hubris and it takes on whoever seeks to stand in its way,”the judge said.