FOIA – Page 18 – National Freedom of Information Coalition

Nicholas Co. (W VA) Commission gets lesson in ethics & open meetings law

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Public business must be carried out in the open. That’s self-evident, but it still does not always happen.

The latest example of the failure of a local government in West Virginia to be open about the public’s business comes from the Nicholas County Commission.

Last August, the Commission hired Roger Beverage as the county administrator at a salary of $60,000 a year. A local citizen, Tim Clifford, challenged the hiring, claiming the Commission acted illegally.

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Local Watchdog Group Suing City Attorney

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A San Diego watchdog group is suing the city attorney, saying he is using his personal email account to do the city's business.

San Diegans for Open Government is accusing Jan Goldsmith of hiding behind his private email account so he will not have to turn over certain emails. Attorney Cory Briggs is suing Goldsmith on behalf of SDOG, or San Diegans for Open Government.

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ED: Lining Up To Keep More Things Secret From The Public

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Well, no surprise here. Now that the General Assembly has needlessly weakened the state's Freedom of Information Act, a variety of interest groups want to carve out exemptions to the law for themselves.

In a word, no. Bad idea. The public ought to be able to copy public records and attend public meetings and know what public officials are doing. Residents of Connecticut have given lawmakers no reason to weaken the FOI. The solons shouldn't have done it last year, and they shouldn't do it again.

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Court Rules U.S. Government Cannot Conceal Food Stamp Data

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Conceal Food Stamp Data

A federal court has ruled that the U.S. Department of Agriculture cannot keep secret the amount retailers receive for participating in the food stamp program (SNAP).

The case began when the Argus Leader, a South Dakota newspaper, filed a Freedom of Information request about businesses enrolled in the food stamp program. The U.S. Department of Agriculture initially denied the newspaper’s request, but the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals recently claimed that the department must comply with the request.

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Obama administration won’t divulge a Guantánamo prison cost, seeks lawsuit’s dismissal

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The Obama administration is refusing to divulge how much it spent to build the secret prison facility at Guantánamo where the accused 9/11 co-conspirators are held and has asked a federal court to dismiss a lawsuit by a Miami Herald reporter demanding documents that would reveal the number.

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Mayor and City Clerk at odds over responsibility for FOIA requests

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The city of Belleville (IL) will use a new procedure and web system to handle requests for public records following tension between the mayor and city clerk.

Since the municipal election in April, Mayor Mark Eckert and City Clerk Dallas Cook have been at odds over whose job it is to gather and release public information.

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Political Review Hampers FOIA Process, Watchdogs Say

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Government watchdog groups and reporters say political appointees have been given increased sway over Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests in the Obama administration, slowing down the release of public records and introducing political pressure to the process.

Numerous federal agencies have adopted policies to review “significant” or “sensitive” FOIA requests. The White House also frequently reviews FOIA requests it claims contain executive branch materials.

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NFOIC NR – Seattle-area Housing Authority completes settlement of 2013 Open Records and Open Meetings Lawsuit

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT:

Melissa MacGowan, Administrator

NATIONAL FREEDOM OF INFORMATION COALITION

101E Reynolds Journalism Institute

Columbia, MO 65211

(573) 882-4856 · macgowanm@missouri.edu

Supported by a grant from the Knight Foundation, the suit’s settlement

includes training from state’s Sunshine group

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Navy mistakenly sends FOIA plans to reporter its seeking to deter

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The Unites States Navy inadvertently sent a memo to a local NBC News reporter this week detailing how it intended to try and deter requests he had filed under the Freedom Of Information Act.

Scott MacFarlane, a reporter for NBC 4 in Washington, D.C., tweeted out a screenshot of a portion of the memo on Tuesday morning, where the name of Robin Patterson, the Navy's FOIA Public Liaison is visible. The Navy FOIA office confirmed that MacFarlane had made the FOIA requests mentioned in the memo.

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By shrinking FOIA’s scope, (VA) General Assembly aims to cover up misbehavior

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Two bills submitted for the upcoming session of the General Assembly — one in the House, one in the Senate — are designed to restrict the public’s access to information about wrongdoing by public officials.

These restrictions will make it more difficult for taxpayers to learn about misuse of their money by local governments, school boards, and state-run colleges and universities.

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