Georgia Senate Adds 911 Calls to Open Records Exemptions

In addition to crime scene photographs, the Georgia Senate also wants to exclude 911 emergency calls that reveal a victim's "personal suffering" from the state's Open Records Act. It was an amendment to the bill unanimously passed by the House that excludes crime scene photographs from the Open Records Act.

Read more here.

CJR Debate: What Should Remain Private in a World where Everything could be Public?

The Columbia Journalism Review challenged the blogosphere to debate the question: What should remain private in a world where everything could be public?

The question stems from the Georgia House's unanimous passage of a bill that prohibits all but credentialed press members from viewing crime scene photos. Even the press, though, cannot remove or copy the photos and must view them under the supervision of a Georgia Bureau of Investigations records custodian. Legislators moved to pass the bill after a Hustler true-crime writer made an open records request to view the autopsy report and crime scene photographs of 24 year-old Meredith Emerson, who was murdered while hiking near the Appalachian Trail in 2008. The photos are said to depict Emerson's nude, decapitated body.

The Columbia Journalism Review argues the issues raised by the crime scene photograph requests should be made on a case-by-case basis.

To join the debate, click here or post a comment to our blog.

Georgia State Law Professor Criticizes Proposed Legislation as "Haphazard"

Georgia State University law professor Jessica D. Gabel makes a cogent argument that the Florida legislature's efforts to pass the Meredith Emerson Privacy Act is short-sighted and misses the mark.

The bill would remedy the release of disturbing crime scene photos of the woman who was brutally killed while hiking with her dog in North Georgia in 2008. A true-crime reporter hired by Hustler magazine requested the photos of Emerson's nude and decapitated body.

Instead of expanding exemptions to Georgia's public records laws or enlarging the state's obscenity laws, Gabel suggests the Legislature consider a stand-alone law that prevents "the malicious, gratuitous or unethical use of such photos." The law professor continues, "Darkening Georgia's sunshine laws is a sacrifice, not the solution."

Read more here.

Request for Crime Scene Photos Spurs Move to Tighten Georgia's Open Records Act

Hustling to pass a law to further limit access to public records, the Georgia legislature is trying to head-off a request from an author hired by Hustler magazine to the Georgia Bureau of Investigations. The Augusta Chronicle reports that open government advocates say the state does not need any more exemptions to its Open Records Act and that existing law already gives GBI sufficient legal authority to deny the request.

House Speaker David Ralston's maneuver comes as a result of veteran true-crimes author Fred Rosen's request for crime scene photos depicting the nude and decapitated body of University of Georgia graduate Meredith Emerson. Emerson had been beaten and killed by a man who abducted her on Blood Mountain in north Georgia two years ago. Rosen said he made the request as part of his research for an upcoming article for the magazine. Hustler magazine is reportedly considering legal action.

Click here to read more.

Georgia State Attorney General's Office Requests Criminal Investigation of Former DOT Treasurer

The Georgia state attorney general's office has asked the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to conduct a criminal investigation of former DOT treasurer Earl Mahfuz. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution obtained the October 28, 2009 letter seeking the GBI investigation through a Georgia Open Records Act request.

The letter asks the GBI to determine whether Mahfuz instructed DOT employees to stop recording contracts before the end of fiscal year 2008 and whether Mahfuz lied to investigators about the unrecorded contacts, which total $153.4 million.

Read more here.

NFOIC Summit: Coalition Sustainability

Barbara Peterson, president of the Florida First Amendment Foundation and NFOIC president; Hyde Post, president of the Georgia First Amendment Foundation; and Kathleen Richardson, executive secretary of the Iowa Freedom of Information Coalition discussed how to sustain state FOI coalitions at the 2009 NFOIC Summit. Here are the notes from their session.

Barbara Peterson
Lessons from the Florida First Amendment Foundation:

• The Florida First Amendment Foundation started in 1985. For first 10 years, it was housed in Florida Press Association. The foundation started publishing Government-In-The-Sunshine manual. The AG's office complies it. The coalition publishes it and distributees it. It was the main source of income.
  
• Peterson onvinced the board that the group should focus only on open-government issues. Nobody else in Florida did that. The group started a toll-free hotline for questions. Someone can call and get a quick question answered and a great quote. In the first year, 203 calls were placed. Now the line averages about 150 calls a month. Half of those come from citizens.
  
• Initially membership was mainly from newspapers. Now private investigators, broadcasters (not many), lawyers, anyone can be a member. Membership is as low as $25 and high as $5000.
  
• Because of the 501-c(3) status, there is a federal limitation on the amount of lobbying. So Peterson doesn’t lobby. She educates. An average of 100-150 exemptions bills are filed in Florida Legislature each year.
  
• The coalition is in the position of responding to all proposals for new exemptions. When a bill comes up on House floor, someone will say what is the position of Florida First Amendation Foundation on this bill. The foundation is sked to review 95 percent of bills. If the coalition doesn’t like it, chances are it won’t go anywhere.
  
• The coalition increased its profile dramatically by establishing a legislative alert list. The coalition can send out an e-mail alert about a bill to more than 300 newspaper editors and reporters in Florida. It makes the e-mails as outrageous as possible to get their attention.
  
• The coalition also conducts about 50 seminars and trainings a year. Those who attend automatically become a member for one year. In turn, the coalition gets their contact information, and many pay for the $25 membership the following year.
  
• The coalition has been talking to professional fundraisers after seeing a significant drop in every level of membership, even $25 members. One told Peterson that you should have three diverse, distinct sources of income.
• The foundation is about to launch a direct-mail fundraising campaign with advice from a professional fundraiser who volunteered her services. It would have cost $10,000 at minimum to hire her. A 2 percent return is expected. The second step will be getting everyone in the foundation to identify those who have been important in the history of the organization and send them a personal letter pleading for money ($1000-$5000 or more).
  

Tips:

• Raise your profile.
  
• Make sure reporters know you're a free resource.
  
• Track your calls. Know who's calling you and where from? That way if you got 15 calls from one newspaper, use that data to convince the newspaper to donate to your coalition. Those free calls were a lot cheaper than placing a call to the newspaper's attorney.
• Create a bullet list of talking points for board members when they're calling to ask others to donate.
• Develop champions. Identify those in the state who really support the cause. Honor them with an award. The Friend of the First Amendment Award has now become somewhat of a competition.
  
• Develop database of those who will continue to support organization.

Hyde Post
Lessons from the Georgia First Amendment Foundation:

• The Georgia First Amendment Foundation started in 1994. There was no consistent voice for FOI or access issues in Georgia. This issue was number 6 on the state press association's list. The Atlanta Journal Constitutaion was arguing a case before the state supreme court. The justice said journalists are always saying access to information is for the people but where are these other people? It's always just the Atlanta Journal Consititution fighting for documents. That's when the newspaper realized it would be helpful to have an organization of not just journalists.
  
• The first question: Who should be in the coalition? The group started with $5,000. To get diversity, it recruited some journalists (print and broadcast), journalism professors, law professors, media lawyers, librarians, intellectural freedom groups, like-minded public service groups (such as the ACLU, Common Cause) and JPF (just plain folks).
  
• A lot of the funding from newspapers. Obviously, that's not so much the case for those starting off today. Law firms are a good source of funding. Grants both through NFOIC and local organizations (such as state bar associations) are also something to look into. Don’t become dependent on any single source of funding.
  
• Pick a board of directors that includes a diversity of people with diverse skills. It's nice crucial to have a certain number of people who have money or can attract money.
  
• The coalition's most successful programs in Georgia have been workshops programs and booklets. It's an educational organization. Its most important constitutency is people just being elected to public office or newly appointed deputies, newly elected school board members, etc.
• The coalition produces a general citizen guide, one on school board records and is working on one on court access. Its board went to the attorney general and state sheriff association and asked them to coauthor the booklets. They didn't have to write it, just review it. However, the coaliton essentially had them approve the documents this way, which made it easier to get that material inserted into their training materials.

Tips:

• Get on regular list of newly elected magistrate judges. Show up during their training.
• Focus and consistency is key.
  
• Narrow the focus to what you can do well.
  
• FOI people who FOI stuff. Find out who's requesting records. That's your target for membership.
• Tell board members ahead of time that donating to the annual fund drive is a condition of being on the board.
  
• Aim to be nonpartisan.
  

Kathleen Richardson Lessons from Iowa Freedom of Information Coalition:

• The Iowa coalition began in 1976. Since early on, it had a strong alliance between print and broadcast journalists. One of its strengths is that it's had a broad base of support. This includes the state Associated Press bureau, state university journalism schools, Iowa Public Television, the League of Women Voters, Mediacom, the state high school press association, the state trial lawyers association, Iowa State Association of School Boards, attorneys interested in open records and meetings issues, etc.
• The coalition has focused on institution memberships, not individual membership. The group have stayed small. Its dues are a couple hundreds dollars for institution members. In current economic situation, that’s turned out to be a good thing. The coalition hasn’t lost any members.
  
• The group's mission is really educational. It publishing a handbook on open meetings and records laws that also includes FAQs about the laws. The publication is very popular and established the coalition as a neutral resource for information.
• The coalition is the statewide coordinator for cameras in courtrooms. It has done informal trainings. In the past couple years, it started partnering with Association of Counties, League of Cities, the Attorney General's office, etc. to conduct training around state.
  
• The key to success is that Richardson a professor at Drake Journalism School, which provided the coalition with office and Richardson's employment. This keeps the overhead low.
  
• The coalition has been successful in the legislature in terms of heading off some bad things. It's a voice of wisdom in hearings.

Tips:

• Establish credibility by trying to project a neutral, nonadversarial image.
• Look around state for successful models, such as state good government groups.
• Look around creatively for allies. Media is just another economic interest in many ways. Legislators are looking for voices of real people. Seek business groups that might be potential allies. Rely more heavily on the library or League of Women Voters, for example.

CDC assessed risks of releasing info

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is withholding about 4,000 pages of documents that reveal how it conducted risk analyses on Alison Young's reporting, The Atlanta-Journal Constitution reported. A leaked memo indicated that after the newspaper requested documents on a no-bid contract, CDC officials ordered an analysis on what would happen to CDC's reputation if the information became public. The Atlanta-Journal Constitution filed an FOIA request in January 2007 for all other documents related to risk assessments but has been denied all but 46 pages.

Employees at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have generated about 4,000 pages of documents assessing risks to the agency’s reputation posed by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s reporting.

But the CDC is keeping those records secret, despite directives from the Obama administration that federal agencies presume government records are open to the public under the federal Freedom of Information Act.

Release of the CDC records “would interfere with the agency’s deliberative process and have a chilling effect on employee discussions,” CDC freedom of information officer Lynn Armstrong said in a letter sent this month to the AJC.

More here.

Clipboard disappears but reports will soon appear online

The Savannah-Chatham County police agreed to post a list of all reports on its Web site each morning. The comprehensive list had been available on a clipboard at the front desk until the department converted to a paperless, electronic system on Dec. 24. The department had discontinued providing a comprehensive list (even though copies of individual reports could still be obtained), which led to a complaint from the Savannah Morning News.

The Savannah Morning News has settled a dispute with Savannah-Chatham County police over public access to police reports after the department agreed to post a daily list of all reports on its Web site.

The agreement resolves a complaint the newspaper made to Attorney General Thurbert Baker last month accusing the police department of violating the Georgia Open Records Act by suspending unfiltered access to daily incident reports.

For years, Savannah police compiled copies of the latest reports, which are public records by law and total about 300 daily, and kept them on a clipboard at the front desk. Combing through the reports for news stories was a daily ritual for police reporters.

More here.

NFOIC awards new grants to state coalitions

For immediate release

CONTACT:
Charles N. Davis
Executive Director, National Freedom of Information Coalition
daviscn@missouri.edu
573.882.5736
http://nfoic.org/

Columbia, MO -- The National Freedom of Information Coalition awarded new grants at its December board meeting in Columbia, Missouri, and it's an impressive list of worthwhile activities and projects that will be funded.

Meeting for the first time at the brand new Reynold Journalism Institute at the Missouri School of Journalism in December of 2008, the NFOIC board awarded eight grants to eight coalitions for a total of $69,820 in this the first of two grant award periods....

Full release here:

https://www.nfoic.org/nfoic-awards-new-grants

FOI At Work: Sports Beat

eorgia State has offered new football coach Bill Curry an annual salary of $350,000, according to documents obtained by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution through the Freedom of Information Act.

This is not a contract but a memorandum of understanding. Curry has three months to sign the document. When Georgia State introduced him as head coach last week, Curry had agreed to a five-year contract.

In addition to his salary, he will receive an annual $50,000 bonus that's tied to certain athletic and academic achievements that will be included in the contract. He will also receive a $500 month car allowance. He will have a pool of $450,000 with which to hire six assistant coaches, a director of football operations and an administrative assistant.

More here.

Secret Divorce Filings, And the Former Law Partners Who Grant Them

In early February, (Speaker of the House) Glenn and Susan Richardson walked into the Paulding County Courthouse, filed for an uncontested divorce and got their case sealed from public view.

The handling of the divorce raised questions as to whether the speaker of the state House received preferential treatment from Judge James Osborne, who was not initially assigned the case but signed the order placing it under wraps. The judge, once the speaker's law partner, is now weighing a request to unseal the divorce file. He said Thursday that he has treated the Richardsons' request like any other.

he case is being closely watched, particularly by divorce lawyers across the state. They say if the speaker succeeds in keeping the file sealed, it could lead to an avalanche of requests to close the files of other broken marriages.

"If they carve out an exception for him, I guarantee you we'll all be trying to seal divorce records," said John Lyndon, a family law attorney in Athens. "There's no doubt about it."

Lyndon has had mixed results sealing divorce records and said judges more often than not refuse to do it. When successful, he said he gives clients this caveat: "If challenged, I wouldn't expect it to hold up."

More here.

From Atlanta, A Wonderful Idea....

Why not simply recap the year's stories made possible by FOI? A great idea, here.

An example:

GOVERNMENT SPENDING

Binge bucks: It's Georgia taxpayers' plastic, to be used by state employees to purchase goods for government. So why do many use it to buy porn, gifts, tans and trips?

A1 story, Dec. 23, 2007

By ANDREA JONES and MEGAN CLARKE

The story: A sample state audit of the use of purchasing cards, used by thousands of state employees to buy work-related items, showed poor oversight and a lack of control.

The state-issued Bank of America credit cards are used by 129 state agencies and dozens more local governments. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution analyzed more than 4 million transactions on state purchasing or "p-cards" and found a program that morphed from a simple way for workers to buy supplies into a $370 million spending spree.

How we got it: Under the Georgia Open Records Act, the AJC examined bank transactions on each state-issued purchasing card for the past three years. At the state's direction, Bank of America complied with the request because it is the custodian of the public records. The newspaper's analysis of p-card usage uncovered patterns of policy violations and hundreds of charges that raised questions. Employees used the cards to buy everything from tattoos to expensive trips. Employees spent $13 million in travel expenses, including $6 million for plane tickets, $240,000 in booking fees and $6.1 million in hotel and resort charges. They spent another $6 million at Amazon.com and $9.3 million at restaurants and caterers, to name a few.

The results: The statewide audit and newspaper articles prompted the governor to order all state agencies to review p-card use. Officials at the Department of Administrative Services, which oversees the program, said 1,200 cards have since been terminated, 1,000 more p-card holders had their transaction and/or credit limits reduced, and thousands of state staffers have now been trained. Lawmakers in both the House and Senate have introduced legislation that would further limit card usage.

The story and database are also available.

At Least Five FOI Bills In Georgia...

The public's right to government records could shrink or expand depending on the outcome of five bills vying for lawmakers' approval this session.

While one measure would allow judges to keep the public from seeing sexually explicit evidence in criminal trials (a response to a notorious teen sex case), another would raise the bar legislators must clear to keep records from the public eye.

Just two weeks ago, contractors' bids and contracts with development authorities -- documents the public has a right to view -- seemed headed toward secrecy under House Bill 1200, sponsored by Rep. Wendell Willard, R-Sandy Springs. However, the House State Planning & Community Affairs Committee tabled the bill and a motion to revive it failed this week....

Making it harder to create an exemption is at the heart of Senate Resolution 970, which resides in the hands of the Senate Ethics Committee.

S.R. 970 proposes a constitutional amendment that would require any new exemption to the Open Record Act to get a two-thirds majority in the House and Senate, a so-called supermajority that now is reserved for proposed constitutional amendments...

More here.

Water, Water Everywhere...Secret Water Pact Makes the Papers

Look for more of this sort of thing as water becomes more precious:

Officials from Alabama, Florida and Georgia signed a confidentiality agreement in January that includes two private utilities and prohibits the parties from disclosing to the public details of the ongoing negotiations over water rights in the region.

A Florida seafood industry group says the secrecy deal, which also includes the federal government, is illegal and is asking the state's open government commission to throw it out.

"It just fuels suspicion on the part of people down here whose livelihoods depend on this," Kevin Begos, executive director of the Franklin County Oyster & Seafood Task Force, said Tuesday. "We just feel that we have no real say in what's going on and we're not getting any solid information about what's being discussed."

The task force obtained a copy of the agreement through an open records request after state and federal officials provided few details on the status of negotiations last week.

Sarah Williams, spokeswoman for the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, said the agreement was intended to allow for open negotiations even as the states face off in a series of related court battles.

"The confidentiality agreement was there to ensure we can have open and fair discussions without compromising ongoing litigation," she said. "When we have more details, when we have a proposal, it will be put forth to the public."

But it seems the secrecy doesn't meet with everyone's approval:

Read more here.

It's an age-old debate: could scrutiny of cold case files help move the cases, or does it undermine investigations, even if those investigations have been dormant for years?

Lawyers tangled in the Georgia Supreme Court on Monday about a case that could force police departments to release documents in unsolved crimes, a move which authorities said would undermine their investigations.

The argument deals with the police use of the term "pending investigation" to refuse media requests for public information, a term that open records lawyers say is being abused by authorities to withhold public information.

Much more here.