Obama administration only scratches surface
I’ve never thought it was fun, or even very productive to file request after request after request for records under the federal Freedom of Information Act. I don’t have the patience to wait month after month, or even year after year, for the feds to get me what I want. Yet I know there is no other law on the books that is as important to self-governance as FOIA.
Reporters who master the art of requesting and using public records are national treasures. We hear from many of them every year, usually when they’ve been told they can’t have information that clearly would benefit the public interest if it was released.
We heard from hundreds of reporters during the administration of George W. Bush. For eight years, they went through the motions of filing FOIA requests knowing that their chances of getting usable information were slim. The 2008 election was an opportunity for a new president to demonstrate that the public could be trusted with information collected and maintained by its government.
On his first day in office, President Barack Obama signed an executive order and two presidential memoranda that seemed to indicate that he values “transparency” — a government buzzword that, to me, means giving citizens the right to get information that demonstrates what public officials are doing in their name with their tax dollars.
It seemed the meetings with transition team members and federal officials charged with implementing FOIA might actually pay off. But the results have been disappointing.
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Under FOIA Obama wants to LIMIT access to White House visitor logs.
ReplyDeleteToo much transparecy?
the FOIA was simply designed to try to get dirt on others. every politician loves it until it happens to them or their party.
ReplyDeleteYou don't know what you are talking about 3:05. The FOIA was made into law in order that regular people could get the information that they are entitled to have. Unfortunately the government likes to keep it's information secret but that is not the law. Those that violate the law are held accountable, ask Davis Ruark. Ruark ignored a FOIA request and was found guilty in a court of law. Check it out if you don't believe it, it was in the news paper about a year ago.
ReplyDelete