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The FOI ADVOCATEDecember 22, 2005 Vol. 4, No. 27The E-Newsletter of the National Freedom of Information Coalition, a unit of the Missouri School of Journalism "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) NFOIC NEWS
SEND US YOUR STATE’S NEWS at daviscn@missouri.edu. “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 (Articles link to external sites) TOP OF THE NEWS"Suppression of information is the surest way to cause its significance to grow and persist," the judge opined. "Clarity and openness are the best antidotes, either to dispel criticism if not merited or, if merited, to correct such errors as may be found." -- Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein in Federal District Court in Manhattan, ordering the Pentagon and other agencies to release another series of documents and videos on the detentions at Abu Ghraib prison. VP NEEDS AAA DISCOUNT: Open-government advocates say that Vice President Cheney is to executive branch secrecy what darkness is to the night. In 2001, Cheney famously refused to disclose the names of oil company executives and others who attended meetings of a White House energy task force that he headed, which helped draft a national energy policy. More recently, a government watchdog group has called attention to less noticed records that Cheney has sought to keep private: travel costs. In a report this month, the nonpartisan Center for Public Integrity said Cheney and his staff have sidestepped regulations that require annual reporting of travel expenses of more than $250 received from outside groups. The center, which focuses on ethics and public service issues, said previous vice presidents routinely disclosed such payments for lodging, travel and food when the veep and his staff made appearances at colleges, think tanks and trade associations. "The private sector reimburses elected officials and bureaucrats for such trips, but laws require officials to disclose where they went, how much it costs and who paid for it," the report said, citing provisions found in Section 1353 of Title 13 of the U.S. Code. Cheney's office says nothing is amiss. In three letters since 2002 to the Office of Government Ethics, which collects the travel reports, David S. Addington, then Cheney's general counsel, noted that the reporting requirement applies to the "head of each agency of the executive branch." "The Office of the Vice President is not an 'agency of the executive branch,' and hence the reporting requirement does not apply," wrote Addington, who this month replaced I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby as Cheney's chief of staff. ANTITERROR, IRAQ, ETC.“The danger to political dissent is acute where the government attempts to act under so vague a concept as the power to protect domestic security.’ Given the difficulty of defining the domestic security interest, the danger of abuse in acting to protect that interest becomes apparent.” -- The ACLU quoting a 1972 United States Supreme Court opinion in United States v. United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan,407 U.S. 297 (1972), which re-emerged in the news recently after Justice Department lawyers blacked it out in filings in a Patriot Act case. For the evidence, see a portion of the ACLU's court filing after the Justice Dept was allowed to censor it. PENTAGON LOG SHOWS LIGHT USE: A listing of all requests made of the Pentagon under the Freedom of Information Act since 2000, acquired by the website Raw Story, provides new insight into the aggressiveness of American news agencies. The Pentagon’s records reveal that the law is broadly used—more than 10,000 requests have been made since 2000. But they also illuminate a seeming dearth of curiosity by news organizations about the internal files of the U.S. military establishment. This lack of curiosity appears particularly evident among the nation’s three largest newspapers. In total, the three papers with daily circulations greater than one million--USA Today, the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times -- made just 36 requests of the Pentagon between 2000 and February 2005. USA Today made nine; the Journal, six; and the Times, 21. The Associated Press, the nation’s most widely used wire service, made 73 requests. Two other AP reporters made a handful of requests not identified by their employer. Leading print newspapers was the Los Angeles Times, with 42 inquiries. The Times recently ditched its national edition and announced last week it would lay off 85 newsroom staffers. Following the LA Times was the Washington Post, with 34—just shy of the total requests made by the three largest U.S. newspapers combined. The largest television networks made slightly fewer requests than the top print outlets. CBS News led the pack with 32 queries; Fox News followed with 22; and NBC News just was shy of that with 21. Fox—a frequent target of the left—filed more requests than the New York Times. CNN, the most-watched 24 hour news channel, made just 11 inquiries. GENERAL FOIA NEWSTHE HILL FINDS MIXED RESPONSE: Government agencies vary widely in their responses to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, according to an analysis by The Hill. Congress is weighing changes to FOIA because some agencies are slow to respond and provide incomplete information. This move to reform the law comes years after the Bush administration adopted a stricter interpretation of FOIA, raising criticism from government watchdog groups. The Hill asked more than 100 government agencies to provide a list of the FOIA requests they have received over a series of months, including the names of the requestors, their affiliations and the nature of the documents they were seeking. Some agencies — such as the embattled Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) — replied promptly with all the data requested. Both others took months to respond, and when a few of them did they provided little information. The Department of Labor Employment Standards Administration took more than five months to reply, and the agency noted that it took more than four months for the request to reach the relevant office. Many executive entities — such as the Department of Transportation and the Federal Maritime Commission — provided the names of the people requesting FOIA but did not list their affiliations. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, meanwhile, failed to mention what documents were being sought. THE ENERGY POLICY TASK FORCE REVEALED: A White House document shows that executives from big oil companies met with Vice President Cheney's energy task force in 2001 -- something long suspected by environmentalists but denied as recently as last week by industry officials testifying before Congress. The document, obtained this week by The Washington Post, shows that officials from Exxon Mobil Corp., Conoco (before its merger with Phillips), Shell Oil Co. and BP America Inc. met in the White House complex with the Cheney aides who were developing a national energy policy, parts of which became law and parts of which are still being debated. In a joint hearing last week of the Senate Energy and Commerce committees, the chief executives of Exxon Mobil Corp., Chevron Corp. and ConocoPhillips said their firms did not participate in the 2001 task force. The president of Shell Oil said his company did not participate "to my knowledge," and the chief of BP America Inc. said he did not know. Chevron was not named in the White House document, but the Government Accountability Office has found that Chevron was one of several companies that "gave detailed energy policy recommendations" to the task force. In addition, Cheney had a separate meeting with John Browne, BP's chief executive, according to a person familiar with the task force's work; that meeting is not noted in the document. FEMA DENIES ACCESS TO HURRICANE SURVEY RESULTS: The government is refusing to release results of a satisfaction survey of hurricane victims, claiming the data is confidential. The Federal Emergency Management Agency asked 10,953 of the 316,000 people who received home inspections after hurricanes Charley, Frances, Jeanne and Ivan how well the inspector did his or her job. More than 2,900 people responded. But if FEMA has its way, the public will never know how high or low FEMA inspectors rated. The agency denied The News-Press' Freedom of Information Act request seeking the data. The denial comes at a time when FEMA is under fire for the way it has handled natural disaster response. After Hurricane Katrina, FEMA's failings received worldwide attention resulting in the resignation of director Michael Brown. And Congress is seeking ways to improve the agency's performance. Even before Katrina, FEMA was the subject of criticism for handing out money to people who didn't have damage, hiring unqualified inspectors and asking for refunds from aid recipients. The information FEMA wouldn't release to The News-Press included survey score summaries, score calculations, results and customer comments. The agency would reveal only the number of surveys sent out and the number of responses received. BUT FEMA DOES RELEASE OTHER RECORDS: Government lawyers released Federal Emergency Management Agency documents, including memos sent to the White House that they had tried to keep secret for more than a year. Although portions of the documents were removed, they showed that FEMA early on decided to give Florida a significant increase in the usual reimbursement costs of a disaster. The documents also showed that the agency was mobilizing for the disaster and allocating money to Florida before the bands of the first of four deadly hurricanes struck the state on Aug. 13, 2004. The documents, which included FEMA memos and "talking points," did not shed any new light on how the government decided to reimburse Floridians for 2004 hurricane damage. The News-Press in Fort Myers and other media -- including the Pensacola News Journal -- had reported the reimbursement process immediately following hurricanes Charley, Frances, Ivan and Jeanne. The government made the documents available in response to a court order that granted a Freedom of Information Act request made by The News-Press. The newspaper, along with two other Gannett dailies -- Florida Today and the News Journal -- sued FEMA to see copies of the documents and other related disaster information. Indeed the documents showed nothing except that FEMA appeared to prepare early for the Florida hurricanes and to advocate on behalf of the state throughout the hurricane season. On Aug. 13, 2004, before Hurricane Charley had made landfall, then-Undersecretary Michael D. Brown, the head of FEMA, wrote a "Memorandum for the President" supporting Gov. Jeb Bush's request for a disaster declaration for Florida. "We intend to make an initial allocation of $5 billion until additional requirements are known. This amount is expected to increase once assessments are completed," Brown wrote. Two days later, Brown wrote to the president supporting Florida government's request for a "cost share adjustment." The federal share of disaster costs is 75 percent for things such as debris cleanup and emergency response. The state and local governments would then split the costs. But with the memo, Brown recommended FEMA picking up 100 percent of the costs for the first 72 hours of debris removal and emergency fire and police costs and 90 percent of the costs for local governments. On Oct. 7, 2004, Brown again sent a memo to the president requesting an adjustment of the cost-sharing agreement for all of the state's declared disasters that year, despite the fact that the disasters had not yet met the financial threshold usually reserved for that change. Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi could not get the same deal after Hurricane Katrina. But none of those states has a governor with such close ties to the White House... ...AND FORCED BY A JUDGE, UNVEILS CONTRACTS: The government has released details of two $150 million contracts that the Federal Emergency Management Agency had attempted to keep from public view. The information included cultural diversity plans, performance measures, compensation and key personnel for disaster housing inspection services provided to FEMA. The contracts with Partnership for Response and Recovery, or PaRR, and Parsons Brinckerhoff were awarded in 2001. The companies hire, train and deploy housing inspectors who collect data for FEMA after disasters. But five years later, they still have significant portions in draft form. For that reason, FEMA's lawyers said that they were exempt from the Freedom of Information Act and denied a request to see the documents. The government argued that drafts of federal government documents are not public record and therefore drafts of the business contracts should be exempt from disclosure to the public. The government's lawyers used that same argument in September before U.S. District Court Judge John Steele after The News-Press sued to get the information. But the reasoning elicited a double-take from Steele. "You've got to be kidding me," he said. "You're saying the (inspection contractors) became a government agency?" Government lawyers didn't say why the drafts had not been finalized, even after the two companies had been doing business with FEMA for five years. Steele eventually reviewed the documents in private, over government objections, and ruled they could be released. AND NO WONDER THEY SEEM ACCESS-RESISTANT: After Hurricane Wilma, a Hollywood, Fla., surgeon received money from the Federal Emergency Management Agency for a generator. A lawyer in Plantation received $274 more from the agency than he paid for his generator. Yet, a Fort Lauderdale teenager with serious medical problems had to insert catheters by candlelight when the Oct. 24 storm knocked out power. His family could not afford a generator. A FEMA program to reimburse applicants for generators and storm cleanup items has benefited middle- and upper-income Floridians the most and has so far cost taxpayers more than $332 million for the past two hurricane seasons, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel found in a continuing investigation of disaster aid. HEARING: FOIA IN THE 21ST CENTURY: The strengths and weaknesses of the Freedom of Information Act were explored in a May hearing of the House Government Reform Committee, The lead witness was Allen Weinstein, the Archivist of the United States, who recalled that long before he became Archivist, he sued the FBI under the Freedom of Information Act, which is indeed an excellent credential. Other witnesses included representatives of the Justice Department, the Government Accountability Office, media and public interest groups. See "Information Policy in the 21st Century: A Review of the Freedom of Information Act," hearing before a subcommittee of the House DID SECRECY MAKE THINGS WORSE? Could a defense company stuff a Pentagon contract with enough overhead to hide bribes to a congressman? Easy enough, say veteran Washington insiders. The Pentagon has tens of thousands of contracts to monitor and a shrinking force of auditors, making oversight difficult. What's more, the super-secret part of the defense budget -- the classified, or "black" budget -- hides some $28 billion in spending. Government auditors and even senators have to get special clearance to see the details. That is how Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham gained at least $2.4 million in favors from companies that held contracts with the Defense Department. The companies were not identified by name in the plea agreement reached with the California Republican and filed Monday in U.S. District Court in San Diego. PROPAGANDA, NEWS CONTROLPENTAGON INTRODUCING PROPAGANDA IN IRAQ: As part of an information offensive in Iraq, the US military is secretly paying Iraqi newspapers to publish stories written by American troops in an effort to burnish the image of the US mission in Iraq. The articles, written by US military "information operations" troops, are translated into Arabic and placed in Baghdad newspapers with the help of a defense contractor, according to US military officials and documents obtained by the Los Angeles Times. Many of the articles are presented in the Iraqi press as unbiased news accounts written and reported by independent journalists. The stories trumpet the work of US and Iraqi troops, denounce insurgents and tout US-led efforts to rebuild the country. Though the articles are basically factual, they present only one side of events and omit information that might reflect poorly on the US or Iraqi governments, officials said. Records and interviews indicate that the US has paid Iraqi newspapers to run dozens of such articles, with headlines such as "Iraqis Insist on Living Despite Terrorism," since the effort began this year. The operation is designed to mask any connection with the US military. The Pentagon has a contract with a small Washington-based firm called Lincoln Group, which helps translate and place the stories. The Lincoln Group's Iraqi staff, or its subcontractors, sometimes pose as freelance reporters or advertising executives when they deliver the stories to Baghdad media outlets. The military's effort to disseminate propaganda in the Iraqi media is taking place even as US officials are pledging to promote democratic principles, political transparency and freedom of speech in a country emerging from decades of dictatorship and corruption. It comes as the State Department is training Iraqi reporters in basic journalism skills and Western media ethics, including one workshop titled "The Role of Press in a Democratic Society." Standards vary widely at Iraqi newspapers, many of which are shoestring operations. "Here we are trying to create the principles of democracy in Iraq. Every speech we give in that country is about democracy. And we're breaking all the first principles of democracy when we're doing it," said a senior Pentagon official who opposes the practice of planting stories in the Iraqi media. CALIFORNIA AGENCIES BARRED FROM PROPAGANDA: The content of two publicly funded video news releases produced by the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency was deemed "misleading" by Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Lloyd Connelly, who ordered the agency to cease production of any similar videos promoting an unbalanced view of government policies. "By including comments from the public that are solely supportive of the emergency or proposed regulations, the VNRs (video news releases) create the misleading impression that the regulations are unopposed by any segments of the public and are not subject to criticism, thereby discouraging any further questioning or investigation of the matter by the public," Connelly wrote in his Dec. 1 opinion. The releases included suggested lead statements for news anchors with comments from a government official and hospital workers, according to the opinion. The video releases subverted the state's Administrative Procedures Act, Connelly wrote, because they violate the Act's objectives of "public participation and good faith consideration of public comments on regulation by the agency proposing to adopt regulations." One video supported Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's emergency ruling seeking to delay a lowering of the nurse-to-patient ratio standard from 1:6 to 1:5, a proposed delay the California Nurses Association opposed because a lower ratio means better work quality, said Shum Preston, CNA's political consultant. WHILE TEXAS AGENCIES APPARENTLY ARE NOT: It was a heart-wrenching story: A 10-year-old boy named John, separated from his mother since the hurricane, was living with other foster children in an emergency shelter, and he had one Christmas wish -- to go home. "But there's no way I'll get gifts for Christmas. I don't even believe in Santa anymore,'' he was quoted as saying. The Brazosport (Texas) Facts ran the profile on its front page Nov. 29 as part of its Fill-a-Stocking series, which features a different foster child each day from Thanksgiving through Christmas and solicits donations for a local charity to help fulfill the child's holiday wish. But the story was a work of fiction. State caseworkers apparently made it up to tug at readers' heartstrings. Dan Lauck, a reporter with KHOU-TV in Houston, discovered the story was phony after calling state officials to request an interview with the child. He believed that if the boy's story was told on television, the youngster might find his mother. Lauck said his requests were repeatedly denied because of what he was told were privacy concerns. Eventually he was told that the boy was living with relatives. Finally, an agency spokesman told him the profile had been made up. YOU AIN”T SEEN NOTHING YET: A $300 million Pentagon psychological warfare operation includes plans for placing pro-American messages in foreign media outlets without disclosing the U.S. government as the source, one of the military officials in charge of the program says. Run by psychological warfare experts at the U.S. Special Operations Command, the media campaign is being designed to counter terrorist ideology and sway foreign audiences to support American policies. The military wants to fight the information war against al-Qaeda through newspapers, websites, radio, television and "novelty items" such as T-shirts and bumper stickers. The program will operate throughout the world, including in allied nations and in countries where the United States is not involved in armed conflict. IN THE STATES“It's not the public's meeting. It's the school board's meeting." -- Hampshire County, W.Va. School board attorney Norwood Bentley From the First Amendment Center PAPER APPEALS FEMA DENIAL: The News-Press will appeal a decision by the federal government to keep secret results of customer surveys of hurricane victims after last year's devastating storm season. The Federal Emergency Management Agency claimed that the surveys — which asked storm victims to rate the performance of FEMA and its inspectors — were confidential. It cited two exemptions to the Freedom of Information Act that allow the relief agency to withhold records from the public, including that the information is used to make internal decisions. The newspaper, however, believes the information is public. "These surveys — paid for with taxpayers' money — are a gauge of citizens' interaction with FEMA," said Kate Marymont, executive editor of The News-Press. "We asked for summaries and calculations, not individuals' forms. I don't agree with FEMA's position that the broad findings are confidential, and we are challenging that." The data FEMA wouldn't release includes survey score summaries, score calculations, results and customer comments. The agency would reveal only the number of surveys sent out and the number of responses received. CONN. COMMISSION SAYS HMO RECORDS ARE PUBLIC: A state Freedom of Information Commission official has concluded in a potentially precedent-setting decision that records kept by the four HMOs that run the state's "Husky" program have been improperly withheld from the public. That proviso was only added to the law in an amendment enacted four years ago after a scandal involving the state's motor vehicle emissions testing program. Specifically, Perpetua said, the commission should order the state Department of Social Services to obtain certain documents sought by legal-aid lawyers in Hartford and New Haven from BlueCare Family Plan, Community Health Network of Connecticut, HealthNet of the Northeast, and FirstChoice Healthplans of Connecticut. INTERNAL AFFAIRS RULING APPEALED IN MISSOURI: The Missouri Court of Appeals "overlooked and misinterpreted" the law when it ruled last month that the Springfield Police Department must turn over internal affairs records to a man who requested the information under the state's Sunshine Law, according to a motion filed this week by the city. Assistant City Attorney Carl Yendes filed the motion, which seeks to have the case reheard by the appellate court or transferred to the Missouri Supreme Court. Two weeks ago, the Court of Appeals' Southern District said the city must release documents requested by William D. Harris, who is charged with three counts of third-degree assault on three police officers. Harris said in his request that he did not assault the officers but instead acted in self-defense when they attacked him. He filed a complaint against the officers — Phillip Yarnell, Dale Sokolik and Dustin Donaldson — that triggered an internal affairs investigation, according to the case. Under the Sunshine Law, Harris requested all citizen complaints against the officers alleging excessive force or violence over a five-year period. The police department refused to release the records. In its Nov. 23 opinion, the appeals court said that the city is required to release the statements under the Sunshine Law. VP VISIT DOES NOT FALL UNDER HOMELAND SECURITY EXEMPTION: Kentucky Gov. Ernie Fletcher's office must release expense records for state police assigned to Vice President Dick Cheney's March visit to the state, a judge ruled Monday, rejecting claims that they fell within an exemption to protect against a terrorist attack. Franklin County Circuit Court Judge Roger Crittenden ruled that homeland security exemptions to the state Open Records Act do not apply to the records from Cheney's visit. The exemption allows agencies to withhold certain records if they can show their release would pose a "reasonable likelihood of threatening the public safety by exposing a vulnerability in preventing, protecting against, or responding to a terrorist attack." In ordering the records released, Crittenden wrote: "There is little 'reasonable likelihood' that the numbers of Kentucky State Police assigned in this situation or the amount of tax dollars expended will expose a vulnerability in the security measures taken when the vice president of the United States travels from Louisville International Airport to southern Indiana." Gov. Fletcher's general counsel denied initial requests from The Associated Press in April, citing the homeland security exemption. The AP sought the number of state police personnel assigned to escort Cheney to and from the airport, as well as overtime and expense records for the agency during a March 28 trip for a political fundraising event in Indiana, for which the Kentucky state police provided additional security and traffic control. CONCEALING THOSE WEAPON WIELDERS: Without public access to the names of people who would be allowed to carry concealed weapons, it would be nearly impossible to tell whether the law is working as intended and make sure the permits wind up solely in the hands of upstanding citizens, officials of government watchdog groups said Friday. The Wisconsin Legislature is on the brink of passing a bill that would allow people to carry concealed weapons and, if it becomes law, the names of permit holders would be kept secret to the general public. "We know who is licensed to drive cars. We know who is licensed to drive school buses and we know who is licensed to cut our hair," said Lucy Dalglish, the executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. "It is impossible for the public to engage in any meaningful oversight when the records are off the books." IN THE STATEHOUSES: UPDATES ON FOI LEGISLATION"I believe there are more instances of the abridgement of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations." --James Madison, speech in the Virginia Convention, June 16, 1788 AUTOPSY RESTRICTIONS SPREADING? Connie Ayres lost her 16-year-old daughter in a car crash in 1996. The next year she learned that a county morgue was using the autopsy photos in a slide show to help fight drunken driving. Ayres' outrage helped lead to restrictions last year on the display of autopsy photos in Michigan -- one of at least 10 states to enact laws in recent years to prohibit coroners from releasing pictures or other death records to the public. The slides of Ayres' daughter were shown as part of court-ordered morgue tours for people convicted of drug- or alcohol-related offenses. "I felt like the government has no right to use my daughter as an administrative tool, as a tool for punishment," the Michigan woman said. The new laws were prompted in part by a legal battle in Florida over autopsy photos of NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt, who was killed in a crash in 2001. Several newspapers sought the pictures after questions arose over how Earnhardt died and whether better safety equipment might have saved him. Ultimately, Florida passed a law blocking public access to autopsy photos. Supporters of such restrictions say the release of autopsy records could compound family members' pain, and they worry particularly about the possibility of gruesome morgue photos being posted on the Internet or published. Ohio and Pennsylvania are considering such restrictions. INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENTSUK STUDY SHOWS JOURNALISTS MAKE 1 IN 10 FOI REQUESTS: A new survey into the Freedom of Information Act has revealed that journalists are providing around ten per cent of all requests to local authorities. It found that some of the requests from journalists and campaign groups were among the most problematic and required more time and effort to answer. And several authorities commented that, while the volume of requests had generally declined during the first six months of this year, the complexity of requests had grown - especially requests by local pressure groups and journalists. The survey, of 200 of England’s 387 local authorities, was carried out by University College London’s Constitution Unit on behalf of the Improvement and Development Agency, which promotes good practice in local government. District councils took an average of 12 staff hours to answer requests and larger councils 14. A few complex requests, most of which were from local pressure groups and journalists, took considerably longer to process. SCOTS TO REVIEW YEAR-OLD LAW: With the first anniversary of the Freedom of Information Act's enforcement approaching, the Scottish Executive announced a review of the Scottish version of the legislation yesterday, to identify areas that may need fine-tuning. According to the Scottish Executive, the review will consider: coverage of the Act, the fees regime, statutory prohibitions to disclosure of information, general feedback on discharge of functions under the Act and any areas where difficulty is arising. “The Act has been operating for almost a year and it will take some time to properly judge the overall success,” said Scottish Minister for Parliamentary Business Margaret Curran. “However, while it may be too early to judge any need for wholesale change, I am convinced there is benefit in reviewing certain aspects of its operation.” The Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act (FOISA) came into force on 1st January 2005 and created a right of access to information held by devolved Scottish public authorities, with a limited number of narrowly drawn exemptions to protect sensitive information. It follows the UK Freedom of Information Act, passed in 2000, the major provisions of which also came into force on 1st January. Also published yesterday were the results of a survey carried out on behalf of the Scottish Information Commissioner, Kevin Dunion, into the public’s awareness of its rights under FOISA. This confirmed that public awareness of both the Act and the Commissioner’s role have increased during the year to October. Almost 60% of people had definitely heard of the Act, while 20% definitely had, or thought they had, heard of the Commissioner. ON THE EDITORIAL PAGESThe Heritage Foundation’s Mark Tapscott on BARDA: Just how big an agency would BARDA be? Well, it's biggest initial project will likely be taking over Project Bio-shield, the $5.6 billion initiative announced two years ago to stimulate the creation of a new bio-defense industry through government contracts and incentives. Of course, without FOIA, how will we ever know if BARDA is making real progress fast enough on the terrorist and natural threats most likely to do the worst harm to largest number of Americans? Before it's too late? The Kennebec Morning Sentinel on a proposal by one Maine community to require written requests for all public records: “By law, public records are ... public. Sounds obvious, we know, but officials in Farmingdale seem to have forgotten this. Selectmen in the community of about 2,900 are weighing whether to adopt a ridiculous policy that would require a written request from anyone wanting to see or get copies of municipal documents. In most cases, these documents are public. They are supposed to be available for anyone to see with little or no notice. No one should have to write a letter requesting to see records or documents that are in the public domain, unless the items being requested are of such volume or age that retrieving them could be a major problem. The public-records policy under consideration in Farmingdale is a lesson for every plantation, village, town and city in Maine in how not to maintain openness in government...” Subscribing to The ADVOCATE LISTSERVTo subscribe:
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