National Freedom of Information Coalition

Update—Senator Secrecy unmasked

INDIANAPOLIS -- The Society of Professional Journalists, which works to improve and protect journalism, has smoked out "Senator Secrecy"—also known as Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.).

Kyl admitted publicly Thursday that he placed a secret hold on Senate Bill 849, also known as the Open Government Act of 2007. The bill would significantly reform the federal Freedom of Information Act, which is one of the strongest tools Americans have to supervise the inner workings of government and to hold elected officials accountable.

The Senate bill has bipartisan support and the unanimous approval of the Senate Judiciary Committee. The U.S. House of Representatives passed a nearly identical version of the bill in March. The secret hold blocked the bill from a Senate vote on May 24.

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Read the release from Christine Tatum at SPJ; also, read commentary from Mark Tapscott at examiner.com.

Help me find Senator Secrecy

How YOU can help

from the desk of Charles Davis, executive director of NFOIC

The NFOIC, SPJ, and your nation needs your help.

On April 12, the Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously passed the Open Government Act, sponsored by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX).

The bill, which has garnered support from more than 100 organizations, would improve the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) by reducing delays in releasing government records requested under FOIA by creating incentives for public officials to comply with the law.

The House passed a similar measure earlier this year but the bill was blocked from reaching the Senate floor for a vote May 24 when an unknown Senator placed a secret hold on the bill.

A secret hold. On an FOI bill. Think about that a minute.

This is not the first time a secret hold has been used to block open government legislation from reaching the floor. In Aug. 2006, Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) put a hold on a bill to create a searchable public database of all federal grants and contracts. Steven's role was revealed only after online public advocates and journalists forced senators to go on the record about whether they placed the hold or not.

And that’s what we want to do right now: get them on the record and find out who Senator Secrecy is...

It’s fun.

It’s for a good cause.

It’s a fine way to exercise those First Amendment rights on a Memorial Day break.

How YOU can help:

Go to http://www.spj.org/ogahold.asp to see if your senator has been called already. There you'll find a Current Tally for responses from each senator.

If your senator is not on record yet, call him or her right away.

Ask, quite simply, and POLITELY:

“Did Sen. XXX place a hold on the Open Government Act?”

While there, also look for the How YOU can help box and a link to the form for submitting your findings.


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