Topeka ? Gov.-elect Kathleen Sebelius, who is being sued for allegedly conducting illegal secret meetings, has blocked access to reports from the leaders of those meetings.

On Wednesday, Sebelius’ transition team denied a request by the Journal-World to review the reports.

Her chief counsel, Matthew All, said because Sebelius is not yet governor, the meetings and subsequent reports are exempt from state laws requiring public meetings and disclosure of public records.

Fourteen news organizations, including the Journal-World, filed a lawsuit against Sebelius after she denied access to meetings of her appointed task forces. The Budget Efficiency Savings Teams, or BEST, are reviewing state spending and governmental functions and will make recommendations to Sebelius.

A decision in that lawsuit is expected soon.

During a court hearing on the issue, Sebelius policy chief Jeremy Anderson testified that about 18 secret BEST meetings had been conducted and some team leaders had issued reports to Sebelius. The Journal-World, citing the Kansas Open Records Act, requested those reports.

In a letter to the newspaper, All wrote, “We maintain our position that neither the Governor-Elect nor her office is a public agency as contemplated by either the Kansas Open Meetings Act or the Kansas Open Records Act. Your request for our records is therefore denied.”

The newspaper is conferring with its attorney on its response to the denial.

In action related to the open meetings lawsuit, Michael Merriam, an attorney representing the media, filed an additional legal brief that claimed the open meetings law is more broad than Sebelius has claimed.

In arguing before State District Judge Eric Rosen, Sebelius’ state attorney said she and her transition staff are not a state agency and therefore not governed by the open meetings law.

But in his additional brief, Merriam argued the law doesn’t only address agencies, but also administrative bodies.