Treasury Contracts Democrat Donors “To Withhold Information From Release To Public”

Officials at the Treasury Department’s Office of Financial Stability (OFS) contracted with a small consulting firm that had given nearly $25,000 to Democratic candidates since 2005  (and no money to Republicans) for “Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Analysts to support the Disclosure Services, Privacy and Treasury Records.”
The firm is currently advertising a job opening for a FOIA analyst with experience in the “Use of FOIA/PA exemptions to withhold information from release to the public”:

Qualifications:
Bachelor's Degree

Knowledge of FOIA law with in-depth knowledge of the applications for FOIA/PA exemptions in particular 1,2,4,5,6 and 7c-e
Experience performing FOIA analysis
Reviewing agency records in response to FOIA or PA requests;
Applying the FOIA/PA statutes to requests for agency records;
Use of FOIA/PA exemptions to withhold information from release to the public

Included in the scope of the work is “Redacting or withholding agency records citing appropriate exemptions and generating response letters; and Responding to requestors concerning the agency’s disclosure determination by generating response letters.”

This means that the OFS, which is tasked with overseeing the Troubled Asset Relief Program, has hired a firm which is hiring specifically to withhold information from release to the public.

According to the website of the company, Phacil (pronounced Fa-SEAL), co-founders Rafael Collado and Sascha Mornell were “thanked by President Obama,” and “commended at the White House during National Small Business Week for being selected the SBA New Jersey State Small Business Persons of the Year.”

That Treasury outsourced its mechanism for transparency to a firm with such partisan ties casts new light on a report from Bloomberg News in which Treasury officials have repeatedly obstructed reporters’ requests for information.


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