Poof! Making Virtual Information Disappear

A team of University of Washington computer scientists have developed a system to make electronic communications, like e-mail, Facebook posts and chat messages, automatically self-destruct and become irretrievable.  Much better than any "delete" button, the program would remove content from all websites, inboxes, outboxes, backup site and home computers. 

The prototype is called Vanish, and it would place a time limit on text uploaded to any website through a web browser.  

Get more details about the project here. 

Stimulus Money Spent on Low Priority Projects for the FAA

The Federal Aviation Administration keeps track of its priority projects through a national priority rating system, but records show that more than $270 million in stimulus grants awarded by the FAA have gone to low-priority projects.  Among the low-priority projects receiving stimulus money: a $1.85 million terminal expansion project at Idaho's Pocatello Regional Airport, $2.5 million for mobile firefighting training equipment in Virginia, and $1 million to improve baggage handling at an Illinois airport that services cargo planes.

Get more information here. 

Virginia Coalition for Open Government Award Winners

The Virginia Coalition for Open Government announced its awards earlier this week.  

Carol Lindstrom of Christiansburg won the Laurence E. Richardson award for individual contributions resulting from her work to create a website for the town of Christiansburg based upon documents she obtained through FOIA requests.  Lindstrom also posts audio and video recordings of Town Council, Planning Commission, and other meetings.  

For a full list of the winners, click here. 

An Argument Against Transparency

Harvard Law professor Lawrence Lessig brings us this really interesting article about transparency, and specifically about his concerns about the long-term consequences about transparency.   

Lessig argues "pathological transparency" or "naked transparency" alone will doom our democracy, much as it has our music industry as well as print and investigative journalism organizations.  The result of "naked transparency," writes Lessig is:  "The most cynical will be the most salient.  Limited attention span will assure that the most salient is the most stable.  Unwarranted conclusions will be drawn, careers will be destroyed, alienation will grow."

Read the whole article here. 

Schwarzenegger Vetoed Transparency Bills

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed a SB 218, a bill authored by Sen. Leland Yee (D-San Francisco), which he says would have brought greater transparency and accountability to California's public higher education institutions.

SB 218 would have modified the California Public Records Act to include auxiliary organizations that perform government functions at the University of California, California State University, and California Community Colleges.

More here.

Washington Judge Orders City Report Withheld and Destroyed

Without citing any legal exemptions from Washington's Public Records Act, Whatcom County Superior Court Judge Steven Mura ruled that a Bellingham city report that was critical of a local construction firm be blocked from public disclosure and destroyed if his decision isn't appealed within 30 days.  

The Bellingham Herald requested a copy of the report, but the construction firm argued the report contained false information that would be damaging to its business.  An arbitrator had earlier found that the city committed "substantial breaches of contract" with the construction firm, which had been hired to install drainage and sprinkler pipe, new ball field soil and turf.

Get more information here.

Search Warrants Withheld Despite Legal Authority to the Contrary

Officials in Logan County, Illinois are refusing to produce search warrant applications and supporting affidavits in connection with a murder investigation on the grounds that the investigation is on-going.  However, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan ruled two years ago that search warrant applications and accompanying affidavits are public records - without respect to a pending investigation -- after the warrants are served unless a judge orders the documents sealed.  

Get more information here.

Florida Council Member Bullies City Clerk into Resignation over Email Release

From the St. Petersburg Times comes this report about Seminole City Councilmember Tom Barnhorn, who wanted City Clerk Ginger Stilton to keep his emails private unless there was a specific request for them.  Barnhorn had asked Stilton for information on costs and methods for moving Seminole elections from March to November. Stilton provided that information not only to Barnhorn, but to all the council members, on the grounds that it was a record pertaining to government business.  Although Barbara Petersen of the Florida First Amendment Foundation says Barnhorn's request wasn't a technical violation of Florida's public records law, she said Barnhorn doesn't understand the term "confidential records" or how his request may be violating city policy.  

Stilton resigned from office without issuing an apology demanded by Barnhorn after he sent an email to Seminole City Manager Frank Edmunds blasting Stilton for "not show[ing] me the respect due an Elected Official."  

One Year and Waiting... Palin's Emails Still Not Produced

Records requests for Sarah Palin's emails made by the Alaska Democratic Party remain unfilled, even though it's been more than a year since the request.  

Alaska officials say they are working on the large request, which requires lawyers to review each email to determine if it should be withheld for privacy concerns or to protect the "deliberative process," an executive privilege granted to the governor and close advisers.  

More here. 

Michigan Governmental Units Feud in Court over FOI Records Request

In a suit pitting the Michigan Department of Corrections against the Oakland County Prosecutor's Office, a judge ordered MDOC to pay a fine and attorneys' fees to the prosecutor's office.  

The suit stems from prosecutor Jessica Cooper's FOI request for a list of names of prisoners set to be paroled.  MDOC said it didn't have such a list, but Cooper sued and a judge agreed that MDOC did not honor the FOI request.  

A waste of taxpayer money?  "It's silly that this had to play out in court and waste everyone's time," Russ Marlan of MDOC told Michigan NPR.

Listen to the report here.

Provision in a Homeland Security Funding Bill Would Block Release of Torture Photos

The American Civil Liberties Union says a provision of the homeland security funding bill could block the release of photos of prisoners abused in U.S. custody abroad.  Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) proposed the provision, which would make such photos exempt from the Freedom of Information Act. 

The ACLU filed a FOI request for 2,000 photos of alleged abuse with the Department of Defense in 2003.  In 2005, a U.S. District Court judge in New York ordered the photos released, a decision that was upheld in 2008 by an appellate court.   The Obama administration has refused to comply with the order and asked the Supreme Court to hear the case.   

Click here for more information.  

West Virginia Supreme Court to Decide How FOI Applies to Judges

The West Virginia Supreme Court will decide the extent to which the state's freedom of information laws applies to judges.  

The case stems from The Associated Press's request for 13 emails between former W.V. Supreme Court Chief Justice Elliot "Spike" Maynard and top coal executive Don Blakenship of Massey Energy.  The Kanawha County Circuit Court ruled only five of the 13 emails need be released.  The Associated Press appealed, arguing all 13 of the emails should be released. 

The Supreme Court's administrator has also appealed, saying emails and correspondence involving the justices are exempt from the state's Freedom of Information Act.  

For more info, click here. 

FBI Investigated Anna Nicole Smith in Murder-for-Hire Plot

Records obtained by the Associated Press reveal that the FBI investigated Anna Nicole Smith in 2000 and 2001 for a murder-for-hire plot targeting E. Pierce Marshall, the son of the model's tycoon husband, J. Howard Marshall II.  The younger Marshall was at the center of a legal fight to keep Smith from inheriting his father's oil wealth, valued in the hundreds of millions.  

The documents show no evidence of Smith's involvement in such a plot. 

J. Howard Marshall II died of natural causes in 1995, E. Pierce Marshall died of natural causes in 2006, and Anna Nicole Smith died of a drug overdose in 2007.  The legal wrangling over Marshall's wealth continues in California courts.

Seattle Officers' Names Released to Citizen Accountability Group

The city of Seattle didn't violate its labor contract with the police guild when it released police disciplinary files to a citizen oversight panel, according to a state labor board ruling.

The Seattle Office of Professional Accountability Review Board reviews complaints against police officers and reports to the City Council regarding trends in misconduct cases or recommendations for training.  Until the City Council passed an ordinance in 2006, the review board only had access to files with the names of officers redacted.  

The Seattle Police Officer's Guild challenged the ordinance and the release of unredacted disciplinary files on the grounds that its contract required confidentiality of the officers' names. 

The Public Employment Relations Commission first ruled in favor of the police guild, but the city's appeal to the full three-member commission overturned that decision.  The guild could appeal to the Superior Court.

For more details, click here. 

A How-To Guide for Creating Transparency in Government

Jerry Mechling, a lecturer in public policy and faculty chair of the Leadership for a Networked World Program at the Harvard Kennedy School, brings us his recommendations for governmental transparency and accountability initiatives.  His advice includes releasing data in computer-readable form, collaborating visibly, developing technology that balances privacy and security standards, and creating organizations that foster transparency.  

Follow this link for more detailed advice. 

Illini Fighting Release of Admissions Clout List

The Chicago Tribune's "Clout Goes to College" investigation into a scandal at the University of Illinois involving admissions of "subpar but politically connected applicants" over more qualified applicants. The newspaper is challenging the university's refusal to release hundreds of names of applicants and any law enforcement subpoenas received by the school as well as the results of a July poll of alumni and other respondents.  

So far the fallout from the scandal includes U. of I. President B. Joseph White, who announced his resignation last month, and the replacement of six university trustees.  

The legal battle playing out in a Sangamon County court pits student privacy against public disclosure. 

Get more details here. 

Washington Task Force to Consider an Open Records Board

The Washington state attorney general and state auditor launched a task force to consider how to create a publicly-funded open-records board or commission to decide open-records and open-meetings quickly and outside of court.   The task force includes representatives from the state legislature, government, unions, lawyers and citizen activists.  The task force will craft a recommendation for lawmakers to consider in January.  

For more information about the task force and the Pennsylvania and Connecticut models being considered, click here.  

Bloomberg Demands Bank Names; Court Stays Release

The Bloomberg News Unit of Bloomberg LP is seeking the names of companies that received loans from the Federal Reserve.  Bloomberg attorneys say the central bank should be forced to disclose the corporate identities because the Federal Reserve can't demonstrate that borrowers would be harmed by such a disclosure.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit disagreed, and stayed the release of information during the appeal. 

Click here for more information. 

AP Finds Out Who Geithner's "Favorites" Are

The Associated Press reviewed seven months of Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner's appointment calendars and found he talks to executives from Citigroup, Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. frequently, sometimes several times a day.  These executives had the ear of the Treasury Secretary more often than Senate Banking Committee Chair Christopher Dodd (D-Conn) or Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass) who lead the effort to approve Geithner's overhaul of the financial system.  

As BusinessWeek notes, "There is nothing inherently wrong with senior Treasury Department officials speaking regularly with industry executives, or even with the secretary keeping tabs on the market's biggest players, even though critics say Geithner risks succumbing too much to these bankers' self-interested worldview." 

Get more info here. 

Tracing an E.Coli-Tainted Hamburger from the Freezer to the Farm

A fascinating piece of work by the New York Times.  A 22-year old woman is paralyzed after eating a grilled hamburger at her mother's house in the fall of 2007.  Through records requests and confidential interviews, the writer traces the tainted meat from freezer to farm.  Get it here. 

Galveston Community Organizer Seeks to Change City Government Form

Galveston community activist David Stanowski is starting the Galveston Open Government Project to ferret out corruption at the city manager level.  Stanowski also wants to change the city's form of government from a city manager form to a mayoral form of government.  Stanowski is soliciting funding from community members as well as national foundations and organizations.

Click here for more information. 

An Oklahoma D.A. Charges 8 Officials with Open Meetings Act Violations

Larry Moore, the Muskogee County district attorney, is throwing the book at eight county officials, including the Sheriff, Police Chief, County Commissioner, and members of the Criminal Trust Authority.  Between them, they're charged with 38 misdemeanor counts of violating Oklahoma's Open Meetings Act.   

A violation of the open-meeting law could result in a fine of up to $500 and up to one year in jail.

Way to go, Larry!  Get more details here. 

Wisconsin Legislator Wants to Limit Access to State Court Records

Wisconsin Rep. Marlin Schneider wants to restrict access to information in Wisconsin's online court records because employers use the site to screen potential employees and neighbors check out neighbors online.   He proposes to show only information for criminal convictions or civil judgments, and requiring the public to pay $10 annually and register with the state courts director to use the Wisconsin Circuit Court Access site.  Judges, police, attorneys and reporters could still use the site for free, though the state courts director would track each visitor's searches.

Needless to say FOI advocates say Schneider's proposal goes too far. 

Check it out.

Cheney's Role in the Valerie Plame Wilson Leak Exposed

Thanks to a FOIA lawsuit filed by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington ("CREW"), former Vice President Cheney's interview with the FBI in the Valerie Plame Wilson leak investigation will see the light of day.  

The DOJ had sought to withhold the records, arguing that future White House officials would be unwilling to cooperate with law enforcement inquiries if the records were released.  U.S. District Court Judge Emmet G. Sullivan allowed the documents to be redacted for privileged communications.  

Get more here. 

Utah Meeting to Optimize State Government Won't be Public

The Utah Advisory Commission to Optimize State Government, a commission to streamline state government, won't be open to the public.   The Salt Lake Tribune requested to attend the meeting under open records laws, but the Commission denied the request, saying that keeping the meeting closed to the public will allow for more full and frank discussion.  

More here. 

FOI Case Asks Whether Petition Signatures are Public Records

The Shepherdstown Observer filed an appeal with the West Virginia Supreme Court over its FOI request for the more than 2,000 names of those who signed a zoning referendum petition.  A Jefferson County Circuit Court judge ruled against the paper, keeping the citizens names private.  The West Virginia Supreme Court has not yet said whether it will hear the paper's appeal.

Get more information here.

Criminal Deportees Often Fly Solo on Commercial Airlines

Immigration and Customs Enforcement records and officials show illegal immigrants routinely fly on commercial airlines without an escort when being deported.  

The Houston Chronicle reports:

“This is an absolute risk to public safety,” said Chris Crane, ICE Council 118's vice president for Detention and Removal Operations.“And it's happening every day.”

Of the 27,899 illegal immigrants put on commercial airlines last year for deportation at a cost of nearly $44 million, more than 75 percent flew unescorted, according to ICE data.

Click here for more.

Clemson University Chopped Down 118 Acres of Trees; Conservation Groups Want to Know Why

A nature conservation group, Chattooga Conservancy, sent a FOI request to Clemson University on July 15 seeking records relating "to the past or future planned sale of timber on any properties owned or held by Clemson University."  According to a report from independentmail.com of Anderson, South Carolina, the University has not yet responded to the request.  Clemson attorneys say the request needs clarification as to the records sought and that the interest in the property "would seem to be beyond the published scope of the Conservancy's missions or goals."  Copies of the records will cost the organization $600.

The request came after Clemson clear cut 118 acres of timber on the Simpson Agricultural Research Farm.  Buzz Williams of the Chattooga Conservancy said the clear cutting included stands of trees 200 years old that protected animals and plants and prevented erosion.  Williams said the University did not properly evaluate the biological diversity of the land before chopping down the forest.  

.

Open Records Advocates Seek to Remove Exemptions to FOIA

Tom Curley, president and chief executive of The Associated Press, testified on behalf of the Sunshine in Government Initiative at a hearing regarding the Office of Government Information Services.  He noted there is still a "secrecy reflex" in place at many federal agencies, despite the Obama's new standards for government openness.   

Curley cited more than 240 statutes that agencies may use for denying FOIA requests.

Senators Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and John Cornyn (R-Texas) have introduced legislation in the Senate that would require any such exemptions to be clearly stated, rather than be buried in the legislation.  The legislation has passed the Senate twice but has not yet been considered by the House.

Get more information here.  Read Curley's testimony here.

Connecticut Physicians Say FOI Undercuts the Peer Review Process

In a split decision, the Connecticut Supreme Court ruled that peer review privileges do not apply to public records requests filed by patients, stating the privilege only applies in the context of court actions.

The case stems from a former patient's request regarding a state hospital's decision not to renew a doctor's clinical privileges.  

Physicians say the ruling will have a chilling effect on the peer review process for state hospitals and could potentially have an adverse effect on private practices as well. 

In the decision, the majority court said the Legislature would need to fix any perceived flaws in the law.  

For more information, click this link from amednews.com.  

FOI Request Reveals Millions Spent on PR Campaign for Honolulu Rail

HonoluluAdvertiser.com reports $5.6 million have been spent on a public information campaign for a planned Honolulu rail project, with $3 million of the spending occurring since June 30, 2008.  Critics say the campaign went beyond public information to advocacy and lobbying efforts in advance of the November 2008 vote on the rail project.  The East Kapolei to Ala Moana rail project passed by a 51 percent to 46 percent margin.

The spending was disclosed in response to an August 27 FOI request by The Advertiser.   Get the full report here. 

EPA Database Reveals Tainted Water in Schools

The Charleston Daily Mail reports that an Associated Press investigation of water in schools revealed thousands of schools across the nation with unsafe levels of  lead, pesticides and dozens of other toxins.

"The AP analyzed an EPA database showing federal drinking water violations from 1998 to 2008 in schools with their own water supplies. The findings:

Water in about 100 school districts and 2,250 schools breached federal safety standards.

Those schools and districts racked up more than 5,550 separate violations. In 2008, the EPA recorded 577 violations, up from 59 in 1998 - an increase that officials attribute mainly to tougher rules.

California, which has the most schools of any state, also recorded the most violations with 612, followed by Ohio (451), Maine (417), Connecticut (318) and Indiana (289).

Nearly half the violators in California were repeat offenders. One elementary school in Tulare County, in the farm country of the Central Valley, broke safe-water laws 20 times.

The most frequently cited contaminant was coliform bacteria, followed by lead and copper, arsenic and nitrates."

Get the complete report here.

What Did the Austin School District Want in a New Superintendent?

Answers can be found in documents and notes produced pursuant to the Texas Public Information Act. While state law allows school districts to withhold superintendent candidate names, the Texas Attorney General said Austin could not withhold records by arguing that the documents would lead to a candidate's identification.

The Austin American-Statesman reports that, as of July 2009, the school district had spent $20,000 trying to keep the documents private, arguing that secrecy was necessary to preserve the district's ability to conduct superintendent searches that would "attract the maximum number of good candidates."

More here.

Recalcitrant Officials Stymie Public Records Requests in Massachusetts

The Boston Globe brings us this story of the frustrations of dealing with obfuscatory officials who evade public records laws by charging exorbitant fees or by unreasonable delay.

Here is an excerpt, showing how the state's laws make it easy it is for Massachusetts officials to evade the open records laws:

Jon Albano, a First Amendment lawyer with Bingham McCutchen who frequently represents the Globe in battles for public records, said the lack of an enforcement mechanism in Massachusetts allows officials to virtually ignore Galvin’s demands.

“They don’t have to comply with his orders, so they treat them like advisory opinions,’’ Albano said. “Across the state, government officials really and truly do not take the public records law as seriously as they take their other responsibilities.’’

Albano said enforcement of the law would be enhanced by a streamlined process for hearing public records disputes in the courts.

Indeed, with no power to fine or otherwise discipline uncooperative officials, Galvin must rely on the attorney general’s office, which is often reluctant to take action against state agencies in public records cases, perhaps because the office represents those same agencies in other legal matters.

And if the attorney general declines to act, those stymied in their request for public records must rely on the courts, where the cost of filing a lawsuit may be prohibitive and the time it takes to obtain a decision may render the value of the information moot.

Wisconsin One Step Closer to a Reporter's Shield Law

The Wisconsin Assembly passed the Whistleblower Protection Act, which is the state's first shield law for reporters.

From the Reporter's Committee for Freedom of the Press:

The Wisconsin bill, which would offer a qualified privilege for reporters and their confidential sources, would be the 38th state-level shield law if enacted. But before the Wisconsin bill becomes law, it must also pass in the state senate and obtain the governor's signature. Gov. Jim Doyle is generally supportive of the idea but hasn't reviewed the bill yet, the Associated Press reported.

More here.

Holder Announces DOJ Policies re: State Secrets Privilege

Attorney General Eric Holder today released new policies and procedures for the Department of Justice regarding the invocation of the state secrets privilege in litigation. The policies go into effect on October 1.

The policies are designed to "strengthen public confidence that the U.S. Government will invoke the privilege in court only when genuine and significant harm to national defense or foreign relations is at stake and only to the extent necessary to safeguard those interests."

Under the new policies, the Justice Department will not defend an assertion of the privilege from a government department or agency without the personal approval of the Attorney General. It also establishes a State Secrets Review Committee comprised of senior DOJ officials designated by the Attorney General.

When seeking to invoke the privilege, the department or agency must make a sufficient showing that the privilege is necessary to protect information that could lead to significant harm to national defense or foreign relations.

The new policies announce that the Justice Department will not invoke the privilege to conceal violations of law, inefficiency, or administrative error; to prevent embarrassment; to restrain competition; or to delay the release of information undeserving of the state secrets privilege.

More from the Washington Post here and The Hill here.

Mississippi Ethics Commission to Clarify State Public Records Law

The eight-member Mississippi Ethics Commission intends to adopt a set of rules to clarify the state public records law, which the Commission's executive director describes as "skeletal." The Commission hopes the rules will provide guidance and consistency for how the laws are applied throughout the state.

Get the article here, and for the proposed public ethics rules, click here.

Tightening the EMS Information Laws in South Carolina

Four state legislators from South Carolina have vowed to support a change in state law that would open public access to local EMS data to help improve oversight of those departments. Last month, the S.C. Attorney General's Office said that information regarding EMS operations, including ambulance response times, cannot be made public, citing to patient privacy concerns.

IslandPacket.com reports:

The current law, which took effect five years ago, is "broader than it needs to be," said Sen. Tom Davis, R-Beaufort. "We need to err on the side of transparency in oversight of government."

"There are some legitimate restrictions on data, such as patients' names and specific medical conditions, said Davis, who had not been elected when the law passed. "We have to protect those, but also be careful not to throw the baby out with bath water and provide no transparency. The law needs to be more narrowly drawn."

Get the full story here.

Trying to Keep Up with Technology

Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum's trying to keep pace with technology. Following the scandal surrounding three members of the Florida Public Service Commission who gave their Blackberry PIN numbers to lobbyists, which could mean communications sent outside the state record-keeping channels, McCollum proposed a measure encouraging state agencies to begin capturing any state-related communications that staff or officials receive via text messages.

For more information, click here.

Green Bay Must Yield Redacted Legal Invoices to Newspaper

A Wisconsin judge ordered the city of Green Bay to turn over redacted legal invoices to the Green Bay Press-Gazette in response to an open records request by the paper. The newspaper had requested legal invoices paid by the city for all outside legal counsel worked in 2007 and 2008.

The city had initially provided only a summary of the work preformed by the city by outside law firms and the amounts paid to them and objected to producing the invoices saying they contained attorney-client privileged information.

Brown County Circuit Court Judge J.D. McKay ordered the city to produce the bills by October 2 with the confidential or attorney-client privileged information redacted.

For more, click here.

Computer Forensics Experts Investigate Whether Boston Mayor's Office Violated Public Records Laws

After a senior aide to Boston Mayor Thomas Menino produced only 18 emails in response to a Boston Globe request spawning a six-month period, an independent computer forensics specialist is examining the computer and software to help determine if the mayor's office violated public records laws.

For more information, click here.

U.S. Intelligence Costs Revealed

For the first time, the overall costs of U.S. government and military intelligence has been disclosed - $75 billion a year.

The Washington Post reports:

The $75 billion figure incorporated spending by the nation's 16 intelligence agencies, referred to collectively as the national intelligence program (NIP), as well as amounts spent by the Pentagon on so-called military intelligence program (MIP) activities in support of troops in the field in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere, officials said.

Under pressure from Congress and advocacy groups, the U.S. government has taken some steps in recent years to open its books on some intelligence spending.

Get the article here.

Wisconsin Decides Whether Personal Emails Are Public Records

The Wisconsin Supreme Court will hear a case in November that decides whether personal emails of public employees are subject to the state's open records laws. The case stems from the request of a private citizen who wanted to know if public school teachers were violating school policy by using work email to discuss school board elections. When asked for email messages "from the computer [the teachers] use[d] during their school work day," teachers objected to providing emails of a purely personal nature. The Court must decide whether the public interest in disclosure trumps the privacy and "reputational" rights of Wisconsin citizens.

More here.

So What Exactly is "Systemic Risk"?

A recently-filed lawsuit seeks to an answer to this question. Plaintiff Vern McKinley is suing the FDIC and the Federal Reserve to get answers to his FOIA requests on last year's bailouts. The Wall Street Journal reports on McKinley's efforts:

Last December, Mr. McKinley sent a FOIA request to the Fed to find out what Fed governors meant when they said a Bear Stearns failure would cause a "contagion." This term was used in the publicly-released minutes of the Fed meeting at which the central bank discussed plans by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to finance Bear's sale to J.P. Morgan Chase. The minutes contained only the vague warning of doom, without any detail on how exactly the fall of Bear would destroy America. Mr. McKinley's request sought the supporting documents for this conclusion.

He also requested minutes of the autumn FDIC board meeting at which regulators approved financing for a Citigroup takeover of Wachovia. To provide this assistance, the board had to invoke the "systemic risk" exception in the Federal Deposit Insurance Act, and therefore had to assert that such assistance was necessary for the health of the financial system. Yet days later, Wachovia cut a better deal to sell itself to Wells Fargo, instead of Citi. So how necessary was the FDIC's offer of assistance?

After Mr. McKinley sued the agency this summer, the FDIC coughed up a previously undisclosed staff memo to the FDIC board. Again, the agency redacted the substance, providing roughly two pages of text from the nine-page original. The section of the memo titled "Systemic Risk" was entirely erased. As for the Fed, it blew off Mr. McKinely's initial request and has since responded mainly with some highly uninformative letters from the Fed staff to Congress.

More here.

Visiting Dignitaries Cost Floridians

The Miami Herald reports that Floridians picked up a $300,000 tab for security and protection costs of visiting dignitaries for the fiscal year ending June 30. Part of a reciprocal agreement with other states to guarantee the protection of high-profile leaders, Florida Department of Law Enforcement officials say the state's costs are so high because it's a popular destination spot.

Floridians paid $10,664 for Oklahoma Governor Brad Henry to attend a family friend's wedding last summer and the BCS Championship football game in January. They also paid $6,300 for South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford's four visits to the Sunshine State.

More here.

Open Records Victory in Kentucky

The Kentucky Open Government Blog reports on the victory of Kentucky New Era reporter Sarah Hogsed who had filed a records request for restaurant inspection reports with the Pennyrile District Health Department.

Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway said the health department subverted the intent of the Open Records Act and took the opportunity to clarify Kentucky law on open records, as reported by the blog:

The opinion said the district's excuse for the delay – absence of staff – was not sufficient. The opinion added “in the interest of absolute clarity,” that those who ask for public records cannot be required to submit their requests on preprinted forms, or sign forms in the presence of an agency employee; that receipt of records no longer requires on-site inspection; that agencies may recover only their actual costs of reproducing public records, not including staff time, if the records are to be used for a noncommercial purpose, including use by a newspaper or periodical. The department had indicated that it considered the paper a commercial interest. "We suppose the notion that the news media act in the public interest had escaped the health department," the opinion said.

Is Obama's Open Government Initiative Technologically Feasible?

Obama's open government directive will include a schedule for data distribution in formats that are machine-readable, says the Federal Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra.

But some e-government interest groups say that's unrealistic because most agency data exists in PDF format, which is not machine-readable and from which data cannot be easily extracted.

That makes the transfer of legacy data difficult, but one e-government advocate says newly created data could be stored in a new PDF/A version that is more suitable for long-term preservation.

For more information, click here.

Oh Come On... From the You-Can't-Be-Serious Files Comes This Absurdity from Oregon

Check out this blog post -- It reports the absurdity of the Oregon attorney general's claim of copyright protection over a state-produced guide to using public records.

Let's see if the AG has the gall to go after Professor Bill Harbaugh of the University of Oregon, who has posted a copy of the guidebook on his website!

EMS Data Off Limits, According to South Carolina AG Opinion

Ambulance response times and other details on EMS operations can't be made available to the public because of patient privacy concerns, says a recent opinion from the South Carolina Attorney General interpreting a state statute.

The non-binding of the AG has already prompted one state senator, Sen. Harvey Peeler Jr. (R-Cherokee), to draft a new bill that would make much EMS data available to the public.

The AG opinion has also drawn the ire of freedom of information advocates who say ambulance response times is public information vital for oversight of the EMS's system performance.

Read the Island Packet article here.

September 22 - Terror Media Event at the International Spy Museum

On Tuesday, September 22, at 6:30 p.m., the International Spy Museum in Washington, DC presents "Terror Media: Free Speech or Dangerous Weapon?"

Terrorist groups like Al Qaeda, Hezbollah, Hamas, the PKK, and others have used their own media outlets to glorify suicide bombings, incite violence, recruit terrorists, and fundraise online. Should governments shut down terror media or shield it as "protected free speech?" And how can new media be used against violent extremists? The distinguished panel exploring these issues will include: Juan Zarate, former deputy national security advisor for combating terrorism and former assistant secretary of the Treasury for terrorist financing and financial crimes; Mark Dubowitz, executive director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, who has helped shut down Hezbollah and other terrorist owned-media around the world; Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, who has spoken out in support of free speech regardless of viewpoint; and Todd Stein, legislative director for Senator Lieberman, and author of the congressional document exposing how terrorist organizations use online media.

Best of all, event sponsors are offering readers of the FOI Advocate blog a discounted ticket price! For more information and to purchase a ticket, click here. As a benefit of your readership, enter “007member” when purchasing your ticket to receive a discount.

Federal Reserve Ordered to Disclose Recipients of Emergency Loans

Bloomberg LP won a FOIA suit against the Federal Reserve System for disclosure of the financial firms it lent to or disclose the amounts or the assets put up as collateral under emergency lending programs.

In ordering the Fed Reserve to comply with the FOIA request, the court accepted Bloomberg's arguments that U.S. taxpayers need to know the terms of Fed lending because the public became an “involuntary investor” in the nation’s banks as the government began shoring up companies with capital injections and loans. The court rejected the central bank's argument that loan records aren’t covered by the law because their disclosure would harm borrowers’ competitive positions.

For more information, click here.

FOI at Work -- How Federal Funds Are Wasted in California

California Watch, a reporting unit of the non-profit Center for Investigative Reporting, culled thousands of pages of documents and found a multitude of "wasteful spending, purchasing violations, error-prone accounting and shoddy oversight" at California agencies during the years immediately following 9/11. Critics say all the money didn't result in a safer California either.

The group fears the same shoddiness will plague state use of federal economic stimulus money if there isn't any proper oversight of the use of the funds.

Get the extensive report here.

A Kentucky Bill Would Make State Retirement Benefits Trigger Open Records Compliance

From the Kentucky Open Government Blog comes this report about Kentucky Rep. Arnold Simpson, D-Covington, who has pre-filed a bill that would make any organization whose employees get state retirement benefits subject to the Kentucky Open Records Act.

The bill stems from two organizations who claimed they were exempt from the open records act even though they receive more than 25 percent of their budgets from public funds, the law's threshold for public inspection.

An Update - Appealing the Decision Withholding the Names of Supporters for Referendum 71

Washington State says it will appeal the decision of a federal judge to block the release of the names of supporters for Referendum 71, which is described as an effort to overturn the state's "everything but marriage" same-sex domestic partner law.

Washington Attorney General Rob McKenna will ask for an expedited review by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. McKenna criticized the ruling as "a step away from open government."

For more information, see the seattlepi.com article here and the Seattle Times article here.

Here's another article from thestranger.com.

Birth Dates Battle at the Texas Supreme Court

The Texas Supreme Court heard oral arguments regarding whether the birth dates of approximately 145,000 state workers are public records. The case stems from a 2005 request from The Dallas Morning News for an updated state payroll database. The Texas Comptroller refused to provide the birth dates for the state workers, arguing the release of birth dates could lead to identity theft. Open records advocates note that such information is available from other public records, including voter registration polls.

The case is Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts vs. Attorney General of Texas and The Dallas Morning News. For more information, click here.

Update - Florida Public Service Commission to Face Grand Jury Investigation

Following up with a story we told you about the potential PIN-to-PIN messaging being used by Florida utility executives and Public Service Commission (PSC) members to avoid a paper trail, the Miami Herald reports a PSC lobbyist resigned in the midst of the controversy and Commissioner Nancy Argenziano has called for a grand jury investigation into any influence on the PSC from utility companies.

Get the full scoop here.

In New Mexico, Emails About Public Business are Public Information Regardless of Account Used

Emails between the mayor and city councilors of Las Vegas have been released following a ruling by the New Mexico Attorney General. The attorney general 's office stated that emails regarding "public business" are "public information," even if the emails were sent by officials using a private computer, and thus, are subject to disclosure.

Click here for more information.

University of Iowa Faculty Not Subject to Open Meeting Law

After consulting with the University of Iowa General Counsel's Office and the Iowa Attorney General, a University of Iowa faculty leader said faculty government meetings are not subject to the Iowa Open Meeting law.

The question arose during an August state Board of Regents meeting when regents questioned the use of closed-door session by faculty government and whether the state open meeting statute applied.

Some professors disagree with the use of executive or closed sessions.

For more information, click here.

Open Meetings Law Stands in Fifth Circuit

The U.S. Court of Appeals in Dallas (Fifth Circuit) dismissed as moot a challenge to the Texas Open Meetings Act, holding that the plaintiff lacked proper standing to sue. In the case, former city council members had asserted the law violated their rights to exchange e-mail messages discussing city business in secret.

For more on the procedural history of the case and the dissenting opinion of judge James L. Dennis, please see the article from The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.

Information about Wisconsin Judges and District Attorneys Kept Secret

A change to a bill intended to increase government transparency does the opposite with regard to information about property owned by Wisconsin judges and district attorneys.

The Wisconsin Assembly's Committee on Judiciary and Ethics approved the change to the bill, which allows the state Government Accountability Board to post annual economic interest statements of public officials online.

But the property information of judges and district attorneys would be kept secret on grounds of safety concerns.

Members of the public seeking the annual economic interest statements must provide their names and addresses when making the request.

Read the full story from the Journal Sentinel here.

FOIA Request Shows Gaps in ICE Detention Records

Based on records obtained by the Associated Press through FOIA requests, the Washington Post reports that think tank Migration Policy Institute has identified several gaps in the record-keeping of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

These gaps include:

* whether an immigrant must be detained;
* whether a detainee is dangerous;
* whether a detainee might have a claim to U.S. citizenship; and
* whether a immigrant has a special medical condition or mental health issues.

The think tank also says ICE's database should include answers to procedural questions that would ensure the federal government is not holding the immigrants indefinitely.

Open Government Directive Coming Soon...

Just another few weeks, says the government's first CTO, Aneesh Chopra, regarding a new open government directive.

The first step of the directive will be a mandate for federal agencies to enact structural changes so that open government principles become part of their "institutional fabric," reports internetnews.com.

Additionally, the directive will ask agencies t bring more data online and in a machine-readable format, as opposed to PDFs.

Get the full report here.

FOIA Request Reveals Contradictory Evidence to ODNI's Statement that Iran is Assisting the Taliban

From the Asia Times Online comes a report from Gareth Porter, an investigative historian and journalist specializing in U.S. national security policy, that a statement made by the head of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), Dennis Blair, may be incorrect.

The Federation of American Scientists released Blair's February 12, 2009 testimony responses to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence under the Freedom of Information Act on July 30. In support of the assertion that Iran is supporting the Taliban, Blair cited a statement by a Taliban commander attributing military success against NATO forces to Iran.

Gareth's reporting details how the evidence from the U.S. Department of Defense, Canadian forces in Afghanistan, and the Taliban contradicts the Taliban commander, instead suggesting that increased damage to NATO tanks stems from anti-tank mines provided by the U.S. to the jihadi movement against the Soviets in Afghanistan in the 1980s.

Please read the full report for more information.

Two Different Approaches to Email Use During City Council Meetings

First, let's start with an example of what not to do, brought to us by Seattle's komonews.com:

A Kirkland City, Washington city council member has admitted to using city email for personal use, including lewd conversations with his girlfriend. Discovered during a records request from conservative watchdog group, Evergreen Freedom Foundation, Bob Sternoff's emails reveal he was having racy conversations with his girlfriend while city council was in session.

The Kirkland City council voted to have a law firm investigate the emails, but they could stand a lesson from South Haven in southwest Michigan.

South Haven City Clerk Amanda Morgan addressed the City Council regarding the need for a new policy regarding electronic communications during meetings, including emails between council members and city residents.

In an effort to comply with the spirit of the Michigan Open Meetings Act, the proposed new policy is to discourage email use during the meetings and to use an "office assistant" feature to direct incoming emails to the city clerk during city meetings. Others suggest the policy doesn't go far enough and that emailing during a public meeting should be outlawed.

2009 Secrecy Report Card

Hot off the presses -- OpenTheGovernment.org released its 2009 Secrecy Report Card today. It details slight decreases in secrecy across a variety of indicators during the last year of the Bush-Cheney administration. It also provides a six-month overview of the Obama administration's track record on openness issues as well as a section on financial transparency during the economy crisis.

Highlights include:

• Almost $200 Spent Creating and Securing Old Secrets for Every Tax Dollar Spent Declassifying
The government spent nearly $200 maintaining the secrets already on the books for every one
dollar the government spent declassifying documents in 2008, a 2% increase in one year. At
the same time, 16% fewer pages were declassified than in 2008.

• Reported Invocations of the "States Secrets" Privilege Continue to Rise
Invoked only 6 times between 1953 and 1976, the privilege has been used a reported 48
times—an average of 6 times per year in 8 years (through 2008)—more than double the aver-
age (2.46) in the previous 24 years.

• President Bush Surpassed All Presidents Since Kennedy in Assertions of Executive Privilege
President G.W. Bush asserted Executive Privilege 6 times in response to congressional re-
quests, as of August 21, 2008.

• 2,083 Orders of the Secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court
The Department of Justice reported that, in 2008, the FISC approved 2,083 orders—rejecting
one and approving two left over from the previous year.

Get the complete report here.

PIN-to-PIN Communication to Skirt Sunshine Laws

Three aides to a Florida utility regulators repeatedly sent private PIN-to-PIN Blackberry codes to an utility executive, which could allow the utility to communicate with the regulators out of public view and without a paper trail.

A St. Petersburg Times blog states:

"State law prohibits PSC commissioners from discussing a pending rate case with utility officials but it specifically excludes PSC staff from the ban. A 1991 grand jury report recommended that the statute be changed to close that loophole but it was never amended.

PSC rules forbid staffers and commissioners from discussing certain types of commission business out of the public eye with those who appear before the regulatory panel. Under state law, a commissioner who engages in such discussions -- called 'ex parte communications' -- and who fail to report them could face a $5,000 fine and even removal."

For the full report, click here.

Three Articles Regarding the Obama Administration's Efforts Toward Transparency

During his campaign, Obama pledged to run the most transparent administration in history. Nextgov.com reports that open government advocates are criticizing the administration's efforts in fulfilling this campaign promise, saying the administration is placing too much emphasis on building websites rather than publishing information.

But, in a break with previous administrations, the Obama administration will release the names of visitors to the White House beginning in mid-September, reports USA Today.

The Secret Service will disclose electronic visitor logs, including the names of the visitors and who set up the meeting as well as where it was held and for how long within within three to four months of the visit. Information relating to cases of national security, extreme confidentiality or strictly personal visits to the first family would not be released.

"We will achieve our goal of making this administration the most open and transparent administration in history not only by opening the doors of the White House to more Americans, but by shining a light on the business conducted inside," Obama said. "Americans have a right to know whose voices are being heard in the policymaking process."

Archon Fung, a professor at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, offers his views on how the administration should go about fulfilling the campaign promise.

Open Government Advocates Oppose Exempting Terrorist Identity Information from the Freedom of Information Act

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) and nine other open government advocates are asking the House and Senate Intelligence Committees to strike a provision from the Intelligence Reauthorization Act of 2010 that would exempt all terrorist identity information (TII) from the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The organizations say the provision is redundant of an existing Executive Order and is overbroad in its reach.

Read the full story here.

Oklahoma City Refuses to Release Employee Birth Dates, Citing Identity Theft Concerns

In what one open government expert calls "absurd" and a misinterpretation of a law designed to prevent the state Public Safety Department from releasing their driver's license records, Oklahoma City officials denied the request of The Oklahoman for a city employee's date of birth. In denying the request, the city cited two exceptions to the Oklahoma Open Records Act, which prevent the disclosure of "personal information within driver records" and records that "constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy."

Open records advocates criticize the city's refusal, saying there is no statistical or anecdotal evidence showing public records are a source for identity thieves. Experts also note that the information sought is not private because it can be located in other public records.

For the complete story, click here.

Criminals Denied Public Records Based on Motivation

Twice last week government agencies in Washington did not have to fill the public records requests of criminals or those accused, according to The Daily Weekly.

In the most recent instance, King County Jail nurses won a court order to prevent two men accused of murder from getting access to their full names and other personnel records that would normally be available to the public.

The first instance related to the records-requesting efforts of inmate Allan Parmalee, which King County Superior Court Judge Palmer Robinson ruled were "made to harass and intimidate the agencies to which the requests were submitted and the public employees who are the subjects of the requests." Robinson also said Parmalee's requests "would likely threaten the safety of public employees, officials, and their families."

The government's success in the Parmalee matter derives from a new state law allowing the agency to attempt to block the records request of a convicted criminal serving jail time if the requests appear to be made for the purpose of harassing or harming someone.

Tackling Open Records on the Gridiron

Sports Illustrated's Andy Staples is trying to collect the weekly ballots of the 51 public school coaches who vote in the USA Today Coaches Poll. Last spring, the American Football Coaches Association ruled to keep the poll private starting in 2010. The Birmingham News writes:

"The idea is to promote transparency in a poll that makes up one-third of the Bowl Championship Series formula. With help from transparent Harris Poll ballots and computer rankings, the BCS formula determines who plays for the national championship and helps place other teams in multi-million dollar bowl games."

Ge the story here.

Great column on New Jersey FOI reform effort

A nice look at New Jersey sunshine reforms by Ron Miskoff, president of the New Jersey Foundation for Open Government, here:

The latest, if not the last, episode of corruption in New Jersey's political class has politicians of all stripes scurrying for ways to demonstrate that they are not part of a problem.

They have statements on this, committees on that and postures on the other thing. But it's difficult to put much faith in reforms that start only when television lights go on.

There's a common link between black-market livers and cash sandwiches, between back-channel approvals and parking-lot deals. They all happen in the dark. A culture of corruption takes hold behind closed doors, during private meetings in back rooms.

Well before the current hubbub, state Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D-Bergen) introduced legislation to update the state's Open Public Meetings Act, the Sunshine Law.

A Couple of E-Mail Stories to Pass Along...

E-mail continues to bedevil transparency, as these stories demonstrate.

In Wilmington, N.C., the city is making sweeping changes to its employee e-mail policies after a StarNews inquiry uncovered significant violations of state public records laws.

The StarNews found that city council members and many top-ranking city employees routinely shielded e-mails from a public server by marking “private” in subject lines. The e-mails included discussions about important and controversial city issues, such as the annexation of Monkey Junction, the downtown convention center, the police helicopter, lawsuits against the city and complaints about city services.

The story here, and the database of all 36,000 "private" city e-mails here.

And in Wisconsin, The state Senate will review its e-mail use and retention policies after a lawsuit uncovered how employees in one senator's office used personal accounts for state business, a spokeswoman said this week.

Carrie Lynch, spokeswoman for Senate Majority Leader Russ Decker, said some employees use private accounts when they work from home rather than logging into the state system because it is faster and more convenient.

Lynch said the practice would likely be allowed to continue, but a new policy could advise staff members how to make sure the records are maintained for public access.

"This has never really come up before," she said. "Now that it has, we'll definitely take a look at drafting a policy that would accommodate this to ensure that everyone knows the rules from here on out."

She said the review would also consider whether legislative offices must ask the Legislative Technology Services Bureau to check its backup system for records when served with an open records request.

Both issues have been highlighted by a lawsuit brought by the Democratic Party of Wisconsin that claims Sen. Dan Kapanke failed to turn over public records about two events in response to its request. Kapanke's chief of staff, Rose Smyrski, testified last week she routinely used a Yahoo account for work at nights and on weekends.

Story here.

Documents being withheld based on privilege

From the Tacoma News Tribune:

Washington’s open records law is far from absolute. Over the years, lawmakers have granted more than 300 exceptions to its broad mandate for public disclosure.

But the common theme among most of those exemptions is that they reside explicitly in state law. Government agencies and citizens may not always agree on whether an exemption should apply, but at least they are both reading from the same page.

Not so with the nebulous “privilege” invoked by the Legislature and governor. In at least three publicized instances this year – and perhaps more lesser-known ones – the legislative and executive branches have claimed an immunity that appears nowhere in statute.

More here.

Calif. bill seeks to include university foundations in FOI

California Sen. Leland Yee has introduced a bill that would open the records of auxiliaries, private foundations created to support public universities, The Los Angeles Times reported. The legislation proposes that foundations should be subject to the same disclosure requirements as universities. His bill does offer an exemption that would allow donors to give anonymously and allow foundations to withhold the names of donors as long as they didn't receive some benefit from the foundation.

As they stretch every dollar, California's public universities have understandably turned to novel ways of raising and spending money. Many have established private foundations, known as "auxiliaries," that solicit contributions from private donors and then hand that money out in the form of grants, scholarships and the like. Auxiliaries today supply the Cal State system with roughly 20% of its $6.7-billion annual operating budget.

The trouble arises when those foundations use their vague legal status -- they are private entities affiliated with public universities -- to shield themselves from scrutiny. And the public has ample reason to question how some of this money is being spent. A foundation affiliated with Sonoma State University lent money to a former member of its board, then got stuck with a bill when he could not pay the money back. A foundation affiliated with Cal State Fresno built an arena on campus and awarded some donors luxury boxes; when the Fresno Bee asked for the names of the donors and what they had contributed, it was denied, and a court held that the California Public Records Act did not cover the foundation. And a former chancellor of San Francisco City College has been indicted on charges that include allegedly diverting money from a foundation account to pay for a club membership, liquor and other expenses.

More here.

Idaho organization launches salary database

The Idaho Freedom Foundation created a database on OurIdaho.com in which people can search for the names and salaries of government employees, KTVB.com reported. The IFF obtained the data via FOIA requests, and its database contains nearly 40,000 employees.

Want to know how much money your child's teacher makes? How about the police officer who pulled you over last night?

Now you can.

A group that bills itself as a think tank dedicated to limited government has launched a salary database, that allows anyone to look up the names and pay rates for a range of government employees.

More here.

Ill. governor finally signs FOI bill

After a bill to overhaul the state's FOI law sat on his desk for months, Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn signed it into law, the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press reported. The law gives the public access counselor the power to issue binding opinions as well as allows fines of up to $5,000 for FOI violations.

Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn signed a bill today overhauling the state’s freedom of information law.

The legislation has been sitting on Quinn’s desk for several months since squeaking out of the last legislative session at its very end.

The Chicago Sun Times reported that the new law plugs several loop holes in the current law, including giving the state's public access counselor the power to issue binding opinions in disputes over public records. Fines of up to $5,000 for violations of the law are also now possible, the newspaper said.

More here.

Some N.J. clerks 'playing keep-away' with public records.

The Government Records Council in New Jersey has ruled on 1,503 denial-of-access complaints since 2002, and many of the rulings favor those complaining, The Star-Ledger reported. In some cases, rulings are finally granting citizens access to records they requested two years ago, records that should have been released within a week of the request. "Most of the time, they just want to keep people from getting the records in time for the next meeting or the next election," says attorney Walter Luers, who has won OPRA lawsuits against several municipalities." The people on the inside don't want the people on the outside to get the information." Not only is OPRA flawed in how clerks are handing requests, but the GRC panel is also missing two members, which has caused it to cancel meetings and thereby increase its backlog.

There are 47 items on the agenda, and in a small meeting room in Trenton, on a Tuesday morning, the Government Records Council is slogging its way through the list of complaints from citizens who have been thwarted in their attempts to access public records.

An hour into the session, it's clear: New Jersey's Open Public Records Act is flawed.

Ruling after ruling by executive director Catherine Starghill goes against agencies that have denied -- wrongfully -- public access to their records. In the GRC's final orders, municipal clerks, board secretaries and other record custodians are found to be guilty of wide-ranging and unnecessary OPRA violations.

More here.

Site tracks banned books on Google map

A Google map on the Banned Books Week Web site shows more than 120 book challenges that have occurred across the country since 2007.

Are some parts of the United States more prone to censorship than others? Not according to a new map of book censorship incidents that has just been posted on the official Web site of Banned Books Week, www.bannedbooksweek.org. The Google map displays more than 120 book challenges--from Maine to Florida and from Long Island, New York, to San Francisco--that have occurred since the beginning of 2007, http://www.bannedbooksweeks.org.

The map is drawn from cases documented by the American Library Association and the Kids' Right to Read Project, which is sponsored by the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression and the National Coalition Against Censorship.

The Banned Books Week Web site was launched last year to highlight the displays and events that are mounted by hundreds of bookstores and libraries during Banned Books Week, the only national celebration of the freedom to read. It includes a state by state listing to help people find displays and events in their area. This year's Banned Books Week will be celebrated from Sept. 26 through Oct. 3.

More here.

Wash. coalition releases results of candidate questionnaire

The Washington Coalition for Open Government has published its database of questionnaires answered by candidates across the state. Each was asked for their stances on six government reform issues dealing with open government.

As the 2009 campaign season heads into its crucial last months, Washington voters have a new, easy-to-use tool to help them choose candidates that are committed to open, responsive and accountable government.

Earlier this month, the Washington Coalition for Open Government (WCOG) submitted an open government questionnaire to candidates around the state and asked for their position on 6 key government reform issues identified by WCOG. Candidates were asked to take a "yes" or "no" stance on topics including recording of executive sessions of public agencies and requirement of open government training for government employees and elected officials.

Each candidate's individual survey has been posted on the WCOG Web site at www.washingtoncog.org.

"The Washington Coalition for Open Government is happy to be able to provide this service to our members and to the people of Washington so they will know more about where the candidates stand on government openness, transparency, and accountability," said Toby Nixon,
president of the Coalition. "I hope they will make note of which candidates failed to respond to our survey, and ask those candidates pointed questions about where they really stand on the people's right to know what their government is doing."

The Washington Coalition for Open Government is an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting and defending the people's right to know in matters of public interest and in the conduct of the public's business. Members of the coalition represent a broad range of interests, including the news media, public affairs, law, current and retired public officials, business and labor.

More here.

State pays over $81,500 to newspapers

The Wisconsin Department of Administration paid the Journal Sentinel $51,256 and the Lakeland Times of Minocqua $30,278 for wrongly withholding names of state employees in 2005, the Journal Sentinel reported. The money covers the newspapers' costs of lawsuits. The state unsuccessfully argued that it couldn't release names because of labor agreements with its union employees. The state (and thereby taxpayers) might pay more. The Supreme Cour ruling sent the case back to circuit court to detemine if the state has to pay the papers' legal bills during appeals from the unions. The records probably won't be released until then. A Dane County Circuit judge has ruled that the county will have to pay in an open records lawsuit brought by the Journal Sentinel, Wisconsin State Journal, WTMJ-TV and WISC-TV.

The state paid two newspapers more than $81,500 this week after improperly refusing to release the names of state employees.

The payments - which could climb higher because they don't include appeal costs - came as the Capital Times of Madison sued the state for delaying the release of public records related to judicial appointments.

An attorney representing the Capital Times said it seemed as if Gov. Jim Doyle's office was deliberately slow in providing the records, in hopes they would lose their news value. Meanwhile, a spokesman for Doyle suggested the Capital Times was trying to "pose as open records champions and cost the taxpayers some money over it."

More here.

N.J. guidelines clarify what court documents are public

In September, a new rule adopted by New Jersey's highest court will define evidence admitted in courts as "open for public inspection," the Star-Ledger reported. Private records will include financial information in divorce proceedings and personal identifiers such as credit card and Social Security numbers. Thomas Cafferty, a lawyer for the New Jersey Press Association said, "It was less than clear before what would be accessible to the public. I think the Albin report makes it clear."

For decades, some residents could not get court documents they were entitled to see because the judiciary had limited guidelines on which records were available for public viewing.

That's expected to change next month when a new rule recently adopted by the state's highest court goes into effect.

Evidence admitted in New Jersey courts are just some of the records specifically defined as "open for public inspection" in the state's new guidelines.

More here.