The Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition (formerly Colorado Freedom of Information Council), an alliance of groups and individuals committed to ensuring the transparency of state and local governments in Colorado, has named Jeffrey A. Roberts as executive director.
Roberts, who has worked in journalism and public policy in Colorado for nearly 30 years, will lead a recharged effort to educate citizens and officials on the public's constitutional right to access information on government institutions – how they operate and how policies are decided. The new CFOIC will build on the previous work of the Colorado Freedom of Information Council, which since 1987 has shed light on matters affecting the free flow of information to Colorado citizens by putting on seminars, tracking legislation, monitoring violations of open meetings/open records laws and awarding individuals for exceptional work in keeping government open and transparent.
Roberts, 54, was an award-winning reporter and editor at The Denver Post for 23 years, and covered the Colorado Statehouse during the Romer and Lamm administrations. As The Post's computer-assisted reporting editor, he routinely obtained and analyzed public-records databases. He also was a reporter for the Fort Myers (Fla.) News-Press and, more recently, helped produce a ground-breaking study on the long-term sustainability of Colorado's state government revenue system while at the University of Denver's Center for Colorado's Economic Future. Roberts earned a bachelor’s and a master's degree from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism.
CFOIC member organizations include the Associated Press, the Colorado Bar Association, the Colorado Broadcasters Association, Colorado Common Cause, the Colorado Press Association, Colorado Press Women, The Gazette (Colorado Springs), the Colorado Springs Press Association, the League of Women Voters of Colorado, the Public Relations Society of America and the Society of Professional Journalists. Citizen members include Joyce Meskis, owner of the Tattered Cover bookstore, and representatives of the Colorado Association of Libraries and the Colorado Parent Teacher Association. The council’s president is Tom Kelley, an attorney with Levine, Sullivan, Koch & Schulz who specializes in First Amendment law.
The CFOIC is affiliated with and supported by the National Freedom of Information Coalition, based at the University of Missouri.
Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition is a member of NFOIC.–eds.
Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition
1336 Glenarm Place Denver, CO 80204
Contact: Jeff Roberts
303-748-2406 (cell)
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