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Curtain's up on OSF complaint Judge may favor request to open books Wire and staff reports GRANTS PASS -- A Josephine County judge may rule by the end of the year whether the Oregon Shakespeare Festival must turn over financial records requested by an Ashland man. Philip Lang is a longtime OSF member who filed a civil complaint in July seeking financial information under state laws that govern nonprofit, tax-exempt membership corporations. Judge Allan Coon heard almost two hours of testimony and argument in the case Friday. He hinted his decision might favor Lang. "Generally, I am of the philosophy that it is not an illegitimate purpose to be what we'd call a loyal opposition," Coon said. ``The fact that somebody was critical of that administration does not strike me as being disloyal or having a contrary purpose. In fact, it can be helpful. Coon took the case after several judges in Jackson County recused themselves, citing conflicts of interest. For example, the wife of Presiding Judge Ross Davis is a member of the festival's board of directors. Lang's original request was for records including operating budgets and minutes from the last three years' board of director's meetings and detailed job and salary information. He indicated the information was for a follow-up study to a doctoral dissertation on OSF. In testimony Friday, Lang said he also wanted to see how members' donations were spent and consider whether the donation of 13 rental properties to the festival would be a wise move. But OSF attorney Jason Anderson contended that Oregon law doesn't require nonprofit, tax-exempt corporations to be accountable to the public "for every action." "The statutes are not intended to allow members to micromanage the organization," Anderson said. OSF Executive Director Paul Nicholson testified that he has doubts about Lang's intentions, based on correspondence from Lang alluding to negative publicity from the lawsuit. "The threatening position he took in response to us made it very clear that this wasn't for the purpose he specified, which was post-doctoral research," he said. Lang, a psychotherapist and OSF patron since 1982, has described the nationally recognized theater as a "medieval kingdom" and says he plans to use the records to reform OSF's growing "corporate mentality." He filed the lawsuit in the wake of a failed attempt last spring to unionize OSF employees. The festival's 1999 season set records for attendance and revenue. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA