The FOI ADVOCATE
July 29, 2004 Vol. 4, No. 12

The E-Newsletter of the National Freedom of Information Coalition
www.nfoic.org

"A government by secrecy benefits no one. It injures the people it seeks to serve; it damages its own integrity and operation. It breeds distrust, dampens the fervor of its citizens and mocks their loyalty."

-- 110 Congressional Record 17, 087 (1964) (Statement of Senator Long)


A Publication of The Freedom of Information Center

A Unit of the Missouri School of Journalism

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"Experience should teach us to be most on our guard to protect liberty when the government's purposes are beneficent. Men born to freedom are naturally alert to repel invasion of their liberty by evil-minded rulers. The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well meaning but without understanding."

-- Justice Louis Brandeis, 1928

TOP OF THE NEWS

...Sometimes, of course, there are legitimate reasons, such as security, for the White House's secrecy. Other times, such a reason is elusive. In April 2002, for example, the Orlando Sentinel reported that the Apopka Little League team of 11- and 12-year-olds would visit the White House on May 5 to watch a T-ball game. The source: the team manager and parents.

The White House would not confirm the invitation, the paper reported. 

-- The Washington Posts Dana Milbank in an uproarious Washington notebook column on White House secrecy.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A25451-2004Apr19.html

COURT OPENS FLORIDA ELECTION RECORDS:

A state court judge in Florida ordered Thursday that the board of elections immediately release a list of nearly 50,000 suspected felons to CNN and other news organizations that last month sued the state for access to copies of the list.

The list is used to determine who will be eligible to vote in November's presidential election in the state.

In a statement issued shortly after the ruling was announced, Secretary of State Glenda Hood accepted the ruling as final.

"Now that the court has ruled that statute to be unconstitutional, we will make these records accessible to all interested parties," she said.

Florida bars people convicted of felonies in that state from voting. In 2000, a similar list was the center of controversy when state officials acknowledged after the election that it contained thousands of names in error, thus barring eligible people from voting.

Many of the barred voters were African-Americans, who traditionally tend to vote Democratic.

Bush won the state by a 537-vote margin and, with it, the presidency.

The Miami Herald  using the data  found soime 1,600 votes eligible but off the rolls in Florida:

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/9071128.htm?ERIGHTS=7910322064672485240miami::daviscn@missouri.edu&KRD_RM=4nskorqprrsontqkkkkkkkkmkm|Charles|N&is_rd=Y

Felon voting rights face a new hurdle

Hundreds of Floridians who have voted for years could be stopped because they didn't re-register -- they hadn't been told.

BY DAVID KIDWELL, JASON GROTTO AND ERIKA BOLSTAD

dkidwell@herald.com


More than 1,600 Florida felons whose right to vote was legally restored remain on a state list of potentially ineligible voters because they have yet to re-register to vote, a hurdle that critics say is sure to create confusion as the national election looms.

State officials have directed county election supervisors to make each of the voters -- some of whom have been voting legally for decades -- register again before the November presidential election.

The move is drawing fire from several fronts -- from local election supervisors forced to deal with the bureaucratic morass, from black politicians who believe that the list unfairly targets minorities, and from voting rights activists who say it skirts the spirit of open voting.

''It's a throwback to a very ugly period in American history -- a time when state officials in the deep South threw up irrelevant stumbling blocks to keep black people from voting,'' said Randall Marshall, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida.

But administrators of the Florida Division of Elections, in the midst of a controversial effort to remove ineligible voters from Florida's rolls, argue that they are following state law.

''Florida law requires that a felon must register to vote after being granted clemency in order for that registration to be valid,'' Secretary of State Glenda Hood said in a news release issued Friday.

Hood's remarks came in response to a Herald report Friday that revealed that at least 2,119 voters on the state's list of potentially ineligible voters had received clemency after their convictions and appear entitled to vote. Black Democrats make up the largest portion of the list, The Herald found.

Hood and her staff spent much of Friday attempting to discredit the story as inaccurate. They did not respond to repeated telephone inquiries and a list of questions e-mailed by the newspaper.

State election officials have come under intense criticism over efforts to purge voter rolls since the 2000 presidential election, when Florida turned the entire presidential race for Republican Gov. Jeb Bush's brother George by the slimmest of historical margins -- 537 votes.

In interviews Thursday, state election administrators offered no explanation of why the 2,119 voters whose rights were restored were included on the list of voters to be removed from the rolls.

But a Herald analysis shows that 1,647 of those 2,119 received their clemency after they registered to vote, some as far back as 1952. Several of the voters interviewed by The Herald said they have been voting for years, and were not aware that they had to go through the paperwork again -- or be barred from voting.

Their names have been flagged in the state's felon voter database with the coding ''CAR'' -- Clemency After Registration. Election supervisors have been told in training seminars that each of them ``must re-register.''

Of the 1,647, nearly a third -- 497 -- legally registered to vote before committing their crimes, then won clemency afterward. Now they face the loss of that right.

The state's list includes people like Denise Baxter of Oakland Park, who was registered to vote in 1980, five years before her felony conviction for welfare fraud.

Baxter, now 44, won clemency and has voted repeatedly for years, most recently in the 2000 presidential election.

Because of her felony conviction, Baxter, who cleans rooms at a Ramada Inn, has never been able to qualify for better-paying work. Even so, she never thought her record would keep her from voting.

''I really do want to vote,'' said Baxter, a Democrat.

U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek, D-Miami, said he was outraged at The Herald's findings.

''What they are doing here is illegal, and it goes beyond a simple voting rights issue,'' he said. ``It shows a complete lack of respect for individual rights. They're making people do this, hoping they won't have time. This reminds me of the Jim Crow laws of the 1950s and 1960s in Mississippi. It just sickens me.''

Several county election supervisors interviewed Friday said they have similar concerns, and are leaning toward ignoring state requirements to investigate and remove felons who received clemency after convictions.

''I don't think it's right. It's not fair, and the timing is terrible,'' said Palm Beach County Elections Supervisor Theresa LePore. ``If they were going to do this, they should have done it a long time ago or waited until after the election. Frankly, by the time we verify it all and get the letters out, it would probably be too late for the voters to do anything about it.''

Broward Supervisor of Elections Brenda Snipes said she, too, is leaning toward ignoring the requirement.

''If they were registered and got clemency, to me, if you take them off, you just put them back on,'' she said. ``It just seems like a lot of double work, and we don't have time for double work.''

Said Kurt Browning, Pasco County's election chief: ``It's paperwork. It really makes me look like a fool, a typical bureaucrat. All I want to do is the right thing, and then I'm caught in this which-came-first, chicken-or-egg situation. You're damned if you do and damned if you don't.''

Civil rights lawyers said a 1960 federal law prohibiting government officials from disqualifying voters over paperwork mistakes or other procedural barriers supersedes the state law invoked by the Division of Elections.

''It doesn't matter whether the mistake is the fault of the government or the voter,'' said Neil Bradley, associate director of the ACLU's voting rights division in Atlanta. ``You can't force people to jump through procedural hoops because of a processing error.''


BUSH FILES INADVERTANTLY DESTROYED:

Military records that could help establish President Bush's whereabouts during his disputed service in the Texas Air National Guard more than 30 years ago have been inadvertently destroyed, according to the Pentagon.

It said the payroll records of "numerous service members," including former First Lt. Bush, had been ruined in 1996 and 1997 by the Defense Finance and Accounting Service during a project to salvage deteriorating microfilm. No back-up paper copies could be found, it added in notices dated June 25.

The destroyed records cover three months of a period in 1972 and 1973 when Mr. Bush's claims of service in Alabama are in question.

The disclosure appeared to catch some experts, both pro-Bush and con, by surprise. Even the retired lieutenant colonel who studied Mr. Bush's records for the White House, Albert C. Lloyd of Austin, said it came as news to him.


AND THE AP ASKS FOR THE REST OF EM:

The Associated Press asked a federal judge Friday to order the Pentagon to quickly turn over a full copy of President Bush's military service record.

The White House has released partial documentation of Bush's military service in the Texas Air National Guard but has not complied with the news service's Freedom of Information Act request for any record archived at a state library records center in Texas, the AP said in a court filing.

Records released so far do not put to rest questions over whether Bush fulfilled his National Guard service for a period during the Vietnam War, the AP argued in papers filed in federal court in New York.


HAPPINESS IS A WARM GUN RECORD:

When Ohio legislators approved a new law allowing residents to carry concealed weapons, but allowed only the media to find out the names of those obtaining such permits, The Plain Dealer in Cleveland decided to let the public know which of their neighbors were on the list.

Starting Wednesday, the paper began publishing the names, ages and home counties of the 3,000 residents who have taken out such permits, citing the public's right to know.

"We don't think the public should be denied access to the names at all," said Plain Dealer Editor Doug Clifton, who published about 1,500 names over a full page Wednesday and planned to run a page and a half of the remaining names on Thursday. "We figured it was our obligation to share it with the broader public."


ANTITERROR, IRAQ, ETC.

ASHCROFT SQUARES OFF WITH WHISTLEBLOWER:

Sifting through old classified materials in the days after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, FBI translator Sibel Edmonds said, she made an alarming discovery: Intercepts relevant to the terrorist plot, including references to skyscrapers, had been overlooked because they were badly translated into English.

Edmonds, 34, who is fluent in Turkish and Farsi, said she quickly reported the mistake to an FBI superior. Five months later, after flagging what she said were several other security lapses in her division, she was fired. Now, after more than two years of investigations and congressional inquiries, Edmonds is at the center of an extraordinary storm over US classification rules that sheds new light on the secrecy imperative supported by members of the Bush administration.

In a rare maneuver, Attorney General John Ashcroft has ordered that information about the Edmonds case be retroactively classified, even basic facts that have been posted on websites and discussed openly in meetings with members of Congress for two years. The Department of Justice also invoked the seldom-used ''state secrets" privilege to silence Edmonds in court. She has been blocked from testifying in a lawsuit brought by victims of the Sept. 11 attacks and was allowed to speak to the panel investigating the Sept. 11 attacks only behind closed doors.

GENERAL FOI NEWS

PRINCIPALS STEAMED OVER DISCLOSURE:

The head of the New York City principals' union demanded an apology yesterday from Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein for releasing the names of 45 principals who the chancellor said were removed for poor performance. In many cases, the union leader said, the chancellor had violated confidentiality agreements. Klein maintains that he was simply following the public records law, which would demand release of the documents.

Mr. Klein's list has created a stir since his office released it Monday evening. Teachers and parents scoured it for names of unpopular principals they hoped to see included. Some newly retired principals woke up Tuesday morning to read in newspapers, to their horror, that their own names were on it.

Earlier this week, the chancellor said the removal of the principals reflected increased accountability within the city school system under his and Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg's leadership. He maintained that all the principals on the list had performed poorly this year even though many had ultimately retired or accepted demotions. Two of the principals are fighting their dismissals.

Other Stories on the FOI WEBSITE:

FOI AT WORK: MILLIONAIRES FOR NADER... Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader -- still not on the ballot in a single state -- has received a recent windfall of contributions from deep-pocketed Republicans with a history of big contributions to the party, an analysis of federal records show.

Nearly one in 10 of Nader's major donors -- those writing checks of $1, 000 or more -- have given in recent months to the Bush-Cheney campaign, the latest documents show. GOP fund-raisers also have "bundled" contributions -- gathering hefty donations for maximum effect to help Nader, who has criticized the practice in the past.

The donations from wealthy Republicans -- combined with increasingly vocal Democratic charges that they represent a stealth GOP effort to wound Democrat John Kerry -- prompted Nader's vice presidential running mate, Green Party member Peter Camejo, to suggest the consumer advocate reject the money that doesn't come from loyal Nader voters.

"If there has been a wave of these (donations), then that's something Ralph and I will have to talk about -- and about returning their money,'' he said Thursday in an interview with The Chronicle. "If you oppose the war, if you're against the Patriot Act, your money is welcome.


TRANSPARENT PRIVACY? A great Q&A with futurist, scientist and author David Brin, who has long studied what tomorrow could hold for humanity. Several of his novels have been New York Times best sellers, winning multiple Hugo, Nebula and other awards. A 1989 ecological thriller, Earth, foreshadowed global warming and the World Wide Web. Brin holds a bachelor of science from the California Institute of Technology, and a master's in electrical engineering and a Ph.D. in space physics from the University of California at San Diego. He also spent four years as a research engineer for Hughes Aircraft Research Labs.

His 1998 nonfiction book, The Transparent Society: Will Technology Force Us to Choose Between Freedom and Privacy?, examines the ramifications of technological advances on individual lives. He begins by presenting a choice between living in two different cities of the near future. Each town appears the same, except for one significant difference.


9/11 COMMISSION A RARE PEEK BEHIND CURTAIN:

With the release this morning of the Sept. 11 commission's final report, not quite three years after the attacks, the country will receive an account of the day no longer anchored in the shock of the moment, but one that peels open layers of the federal government that are rarely glimpsed, much less scrutinized.

The version of events that evolved from those secret records reflects a profound shift. The inquiry established that the attacks, rather than being bolts from the blue, were preceded by a rising tide of unheard, ignored or mishandled warnings of pending trouble. The hearings and interim reports revealed years of troubling entanglements with other countries and evidence of a fractured national intelligence system of squabbling, uncommunicative agencies.

The commission has cut more quickly and deeply into the secrets of two presidential administrations than did earlier commissions that studied national calamities, such as Pearl Harbor, the John F. Kennedy assassination and the Iran-contra affair, according to scholars on the presidency and secrecy.

Often, the scholars said, this kind of historical overhaul takes years or decades, but the pressures of a presidential election year and the persistent inquiries of victims' families meant that closely guarded secrets and embarrassing lapses were revealed with remarkable speed.


PRESS GROUPS FILE FOIA APPEAL:

The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press today urged the federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., to clarify the standard for when government agencies must more quickly process Freedom of Information Act requests.

The Reporters Committee, joined by the National Security Archive, the American Civil Liberties Union, the American Society of Newspaper Editors, and the Society of Professional Journalists, filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in the case of Electronic Privacy Information Center v. Department of Justice.

The case arose after an August 22, 2003, Washington Post story by Dan Eggen, which reported that Guy A. Lewis, director of the Executive Office of United States Attorneys in the Department of Justice, sent a letter to all federal prosecutors urging them to lobby against legislation pending in Congress that would limit the use of "sneak and peek" warrants under the USA PATRIOT Act. The article questioned whether the letter was a violation of the Anti-Lobbying Act.

On September 10, the Electronic Privacy Information Center ("EPIC"), a Washington, D.C.-based public interest group, filed a Freedom of Information Act request for the letter and other related records with the Department of Justice. EPIC requested that the department expedite processing of the request because it involved an "urgency to inform the public concerning actual or alleged Federal Government activity," and because it involved "a matter of widespread and exceptional media interest in which there exist possible questions about the government's integrity which affect public confidence." In support of its request, EPIC submitted 31 news articles from 14 states and Washington, D.C.

The department denied EPIC's request to expedite processing. Without first appealing the denial to the department, EPIC filed suit in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C.


9/11 COMMISSION DECRIES OVERCLASSIFICATION: The federal commission investigating the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks determined last week what open government advocates have long argued: Federal agencies are overclassifying information.

According to the commission, poor information-sharing among federal agencies was a primary problem that contributed to the attacks. The panel's final report, issued last week, recommends that the overall budget of the intelligence community should be declassified, and information sharing should be stressed over information hoarding. Indeed, Chairman Thomas Kean told reporters after the report was released that half of all the classified documents he reviewed did not need to be classified.

"The culture of agencies feeling they own the information they gathered at taxpayer expense must be replaced by a culture in which the agencies instead feel they have a duty to the information -- to repay the taxpayers' investment by making the information available," the report concluded. "Current security requirements nurture overclassification and excessive compartmentalization of information among agencies."


IN THE STATES


NEWSDAY WINS ROUND IN DOT FIGHT: The state Department of Transportation must honor a Freedom of Information Law request from the Long Island newspaper Newsday and detail downstate's most dangerous intersections and what the state is doing to make them safer, a state appellate court ruled.

Another state court, the Court of Appeals, also decided it will hear an appeal in the New York Times' FOIL case for telephone transcripts and other records related to Sept. 11, 2001, from the New York Fire Department.

Newsday's attempt to get records the DOT is required to keep under the federal highway Hazard Elimination Program was rebuffed by the state agency, which argued the state FOIL law allows it to hold on to information that is exempted from disclosure under federal law. The DOT said the dangerous roadway information is just such data.

http://www.theithacajournal.com/news/stories/20040702/localnews/761989.html


KENTUCKY PRESS ASSOCIATION SUES: A newspaper group filed a lawsuit Thursday seeking to pry open juvenile court proceedings and records that are shielded from the public by state laws.

The suit asks a federal judge to strike down those laws and issue an injunction to open the hearings and records to public scrutiny.

It was filed in U.S. District Court by the Kentucky Press Association, which claims the laws violate the state and federal constitutions. Named as defendants are the state and the Franklin County Circuit Court clerk.

The suit said the current system for juvenile court proceedings "deprives KPA and its members of their First Amendment rights to gather and publish news and deprives the public of its First Amendment right of access to information related to court proceedings and records."

http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/news.aspx?id=13703


COUNTY COMMISSIONS CALENDAR OFF LIMITS? Despite a series of requests over a period of months, the Mobile County Commission has refused to allow public inspection of the three commissioners' appointment books, saying such access would hinder their work and discourage people from meeting with them.

The commission apparently is interpreting the state's public records law differently than the office of Gov. Bob Riley. The governor's office provided the Mobile Register with Riley's schedule for certain dates in response to a similar request by the newspaper.

The Mobile Register first asked in summer 2003 to see the appointment books maintained by the commissioners' secretaries in order to stay on top of those activities. The newspaper has followed up with several inquiries since then.

Alabama law states simply that "every citizen has a right to inspect and take a copy of any public writing of this state, except as otherwise expressly provided by statute."

http://www.al.com/news/mobileregister/index.ssf?/base/news/1090660664161920.xml




INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENTS



AN ABUNDANCE OF CAUTION? The Government's passion for secrecy while it talks about openness is revealed today after a study by The Daily Telegraph that raises serious concerns about the new Freedom of Information Act.

It shows that more than 76,000 files which have passed the normal 30-year closure period laid down by the Public Record Act remain hidden on the Lord Chancellor's instructions. More than a third - 27,000 - are regarded as so sensitive by the Whitehall departments which produced them that even a description of their contents has been suppressed.

The 76,000 files represent almost 0.8 per cent of the 9.5 million documents preserved in the National Archives, a process that began with the Domesday Book.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;sessionid=WJCOCVWUEEZ0DQFIQMFCM5OAVCBQYJVC?xml=/news/2004/07/12/nsec12.xml&sSheet=/portal/2004/07/12/ixportaltop.html&secureRefresh=true&_requestid=43999


GET READY FOR FOI: Publishing his annual report on Wednesday, Richard Thomas also warned traditionally secretive Whitehall departments that they must show a clear commitment to the principles of the new legislation.

The watchdog said there were welcome indications "that Whitehall departments and other public bodies are recognising the benefits of open government".

But he said that this commitment "must be backed up by clear action".

"I'm encouraged by the commitment voiced and demonstrated among public bodies to freedom of information but fine words are not enough," said Thomas.

"Training is underway, FoI champions have been appointed and a culture change has been promised but the real test will come in just five months time when the Act comes into full force."

http://www.epolitix.com/EN/News/200407/11fbbed2-f311-4ceb-a408-811136a1893d.htm

Report at:

http://www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk/cms/DocumentUploads/Information%20Commissioner%20AR%202004%20Web%20PDF.pdf


TRANSPARENCY LACKING IN ECB: French finance minister Nicolas Sarkozy yesterday (6 July) called on the European Central Bank (ECB) to publish records of its debates and votes when setting interest rates, in the interests of transparency.

According to Le Monde, Mr Sarkozy said, "It is important that an independent European body communicates how its decisions are taken, not just to the markets but also to the citizens. In a democracy, it is important that this is explained".

"There is no longer any reason not to publish the votes of those who decide our interest rates", he added, according to Reuters.

http://www.euobserver.com/?sid=19&aid=16830


IN IRELAND, GROWING CONCERN WITH DELAYS: Information commissioner Emily OReilly is concerned at the delays in the processing of appeals by her office due to pressures of resources. The Office of the Information Commissioner (OIC) said in recent weeks they had 900 appeals, including some cases received in 1999, and 200 from before January 2002.

The figures were contained in a letter from the OIC to Fine Gael TD Bernard Allen, explaining why he had still not received a decision on an appeal he made almost two- and-a-half years ago.

The delays are a matter of serious concerns to the commissioner. However, given the current pressure and resources, it has not been practicable to make decisions as quickly as she would wish, the letter said.

http://www.irishexaminer.com/pport/web/ireland/Full_Story/did-sgk4ur5px7bZgsgdL11Zs5FWAE.asp


...AND WITH FEES: Information Commissioner Emily OReilly told the Dáil Finance sub-committee the fees were not even meeting the ¬15,000 spent on collecting them and were endangering the operation of the act.

She said she would be disappointed if some charges under the act, which were introduced by Finance Minister Charlie McCreevy, were not reduced.

Requests for information under the FOI Act now cost ¬15, an internal review costs ¬75 and an appeal to the Office of the Information Commissioner costs ¬150.

Ms OReilly said: I should point out that Ireland is very much in the minority in charging fees for internal review and for an appeal to the Information Commissioner

http://www.irishexaminer.com/pport/web/ireland/Full_Story/did-sgxr-5chM2DfEsg7IQHSmeYhNE.asp


NO WHISTLEBLOWING ALLOWED? A private watchdog group warned World Bank employees Thursday not to rely on the bank's system for protecting staff members who blow the whistle on internal misconduct, saying the system tends to be a trap managers use to keep embarrassing information from reaching the public.

The Government Accountability Project said in a report the bank flunked 16 of 24 tests the group uses to assess a public institution's friendliness to whistleblowers. The bank nevertheless looked good next to three related organizations: the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the Asian Development Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank. Those banks scored even worse, the GAP said.

"The bottom line is real clear: We cannot responsibly recommend that a whistleblower risk retaliation by working within any of the banks' systems...," said Tom Devine, the GAP's legal director. "By and large, these whistleblower systems are a trap in terms of identifying employees who have evidence which could threaten the institution. They are a vehicle for advance warning to internal management that they may be liable for something, and they're not reliably safe channels."

http://admin.corisweb.org/index.php?fuseaction=news.view&id=114349&src=dcn


PROGRESS ON FOIA IN INDIA: The establishment of a strong legal framework for government transparency in the country may have received a fillip this month. On July 13, the Supreme Court heard a public interest litigation on the languishing Central Freedom of Information (FOI) Act, passed in 2002. The petitioners were the Centre for Public Interest Litigation and the National Campaign for People's Right to Information (NCPRI). Noted public interest lawyer Prashant Bhushan is handling the case on behalf of the petitioners.

After 2 days of hearings last week, the Chief justice asked the Government to either notify the Central FOI Act or formulate rules and guidelines to give effect to it right away. The government sought time to respond, and the matter was adjourned till July 20. On July 20, the government's lawyers represented that some rules and guidelines for the FOI Act have been formulated but the Centre has sent them to all the State governments for review and comments. New Delhi wanted time until September 15. With the petitioners' counsel Prashant Bhushan agreeing to this, the Court set September 15 as the deadline for the States to respond to the Central Government.

Readers will be aware the Central Freedom of Information Act was passed in 2002, and received assent from the President in January 2003. But since then, the rules and guidelines to give effect to the law had not been announced and this was the essence of the petitioner's complaint. In the meantime, nine states already have their own RTI laws, enacted before the Central version. Citizens and civil society groups have been using the state laws, particularly in Delhi, Goa, Maharashtra and Karnataka.

http://www.indiatogether.org/2004/jul/rtk-rtiupdate.htm



ON THE OP-ED PAGES: WHAT SOME ARE SAYING ABOUT OPEN GOVERNMENT


First Amendment ombudsman Paul McMasters on the epidemic of secrecy: In the war on terror, information is our most powerful weapon. But our leaders seem determined to disarm the American citizenry.

Not that Americans have been all that heavily armed with government information. Ironically for an open society, we have warehouses filled with secrets. And we keep grinding out more....


Those charged with making us secure must recognize the value in sharing information judiciously with the American public. That builds confidence in government leadership. It creates ownership of government policies. And it generates a flow of information and good ideas from citizens to officials.

In a democracy, over-reaching secrecy does not make us safer; rather it creates only the equality of ignorance.

http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/commentary.aspx?id=13538


Another installment of the Madison Capital-Times excellent Your Right to Know series: The Open Meetings Law does not allow a majority of a local elected body to meet in secret. That means, for example, that four or more members of a seven-member village board can't legally gather in private, except for some narrow exceptions spelled out in the law. This reduces the possibility that a majority of the board will railroad through ordinances out of public view, thus turning their public meetings into a sham.

But the law specifically exempts legislative caucuses. As a result, Republicans and Democrats can and do meet in private to discuss pending legislation. And because one party or the other holds a majority - currently it's the Republicans in both the state Senate and Assembly - it allows state lawmakers to flout the very law that local elected bodies must obey.

The Waukesha County Board recently voted 26 to 9 to recommend that the Legislature end its closed-door caucuses. It is hoped more local elected bodies will put pressure on the Legislature to do away with this indefensible practice...

Wisconsin legislators ought to hold themselves to the same standard of openness required of local elected bodies. The only losers would be those with something to hide from the rest of us, and the party leaders whose influence would diminish under a truly open system.

http://www.madison.com/captimes/opinion/column/guest/77669.php


The Washington Post on the reflexive need to classify: Flip through the Senate intelligence committee's report on prewar intelligence and you'll find instance after instance in which lines, paragraphs, even entire pages are blacked out. It could have been worse, though: If intelligence officials had their way, nearly half of the 511-page report would have been redacted, rather than the 15 percent or so that was excised in the final version. Said one outraged senator: "The initial thing that came back was absolutely an insult, and it would be laughable if it wasn't so insulting, because they redacted half of what we had. A lot of it was to redact a word that revealed nothing." The speaker? Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.), hardly a wild-eyed foe of the intelligence community.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A45384-2004Jul12.html


Fast Company CEO Allan Webber says the days of business secrecy are over:  In the 1990s, CEOs and other top corporate chieftains were among the boldest supporters of information technology (IT). The Web, we were told, was going to change everything - and the benefits to businesses would be enormous. Productivity improvements, cost savings, opportunities to do all kinds of work faster, cheaper and better would flow from the spread of the Web and the increased power of IT.

But as anyone with a well-developed sense of irony can tell you, be careful what you ask for - because you just might get it.

When it comes to the Web and IT, CEOs in almost every industry are learning that the law of unintended consequences is alive and well. In this case, what corporate leaders have gotten that they never anticipated is the end of secrecy: Business today (and government, too) has to adjust to a world in which nothing can remain hidden for very long. To which champions of business and advocates of capitalism everywhere should say, "It's about time!"

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=679&ncid=742&e=18&u=/usatoday/20040713/cm_usatoday/secrecyinbusinessonlyfoolsstifletruth


Chellie Pingree, president and CEO of Common Cause, on secrecy and safety: Compare this growing secrecy movement to a program in Portland, Ore., where public officials and private companies have set up a nonprofit partnership devoted to protecting the public. The information-sharing and alert system they developed, called Regional Alliances for Infrastructure and Network Security, has been in operation since last August. Working with universities, technology companies, first responders, government agencies and the state of Oregon, the system allows its participants to add safety and security information to a secure, Web-based database. But instead of clamping down on information like federal agencies have, RAINS members share the information with each other, warn the public of dangers that arise and coordinate emergency responses.

http://springfield.news-leader.com/opinions/today/0714-Somesecret-133300.html




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FOI Center Staff
Executive Director - Advocate Editor
Charles Davis
daviscn@missouri.edu
(573)882-5736

Center Manager -
Kathleen Edwards
edwardsm@missouri.edu
(573)882-9157