The odds heavily favor Phil Weiser to become our next governor on Nov. 3. At present, of course, he is the state’s attorney general. One thing both offices have in common is they require a commitment to transparent and accountable government. 

That includes keeping meetings and records open and accessible to the press and public. 

Presumably, Weiser would agree.

So, imagine our alarm at learning recently of his office’s response to an inquiry for records about his much-publicized barrage of lawsuits against the Trump administration. The response amounted to the state’s AG thumbing his nose — at the media, at the general public and at the state’s public records laws

Last month, the news service Center Square reported via our news affiliate Colorado Politics that the Attorney General’s Office essentially has been stiff-arming the news service’s request for public records of at least 69 lawsuits he has filed or joined against the federal government. The records request seeks receipts and other details of the suits, which, as Center Square noted in its report, “have been the centerpiece of his campaign for governor.”

The news service outlined its objectives: “Public records requested by The Center Square would show how much those lawsuits have cost taxpayers and whether outside law firms have been responsible stewards of public money.”

Fair enough. But when it sought those records, it got the royal runaround.

At first, an Attorney General’s Office spokesman said the records request would cost $289.59 to process, presumably reflecting the labor hours required for record retrieval. 

Then, the other shoe dropped. The office revised that estimate — skyward — to $5,129.88. 

Center Square was told the new figure reflected 2,517 invoice record pages and 983 pages pertaining to the designation of special prosecutors who don’t work for the Colorado Attorney General’s Office. 

“After compiling the responsive records, we determined that each page requires detailed review and redaction to protect privileged information,” spokesman Lawrence Pacheco wrote to Center Square’s reporter. “We estimate that your request will take a minimum of 117 more hours of review time … Please let us know how you would like to proceed with your request.”

Colorado law does allow government agencies like Weiser’s to recover some costs of retrieving public records, and that might be part of the problem; the law gives those agencies too much leeway.

But, honestly, 117 hours?

Either Phil Weiser’s office is really bad at math, or it is really good at slow-walking a records request — when it really, really doesn’t want to make those records public.

It could well be that Weiser and his staff simply don’t care for Center Square; like President Donald Trump, Weiser might even believe some of the news media are out to get him for political reasons.

But access to public records isn’t a political issue; at least, it shouldn’t be. 

Jeff Roberts of the truly nonpartisan Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition reiterated for Center Square a truism that has become the bane of transparency advocates and news media alike: high fees impede public access. 

Indeed, exorbitant fees effectively can shut down records requests, especially from smaller news media operating on a shoestring as well as individual citizen-advocates.

Instead of breaking the letter of the law and saying “no,” a public agency can skirt the law simply by saying, “You want the records? Here’s the tab.”

Weiser — not only an attorney but also a former professor at the University of Colorado Law School — knows all that. 

So, why is he stonewalling Center Square’s records request?