Now Here is a New Angle: An FOI Request for Video Games!

A national crusader against violent video game is suing Omaha's police chief in connection with the Von Maur shootings.Attorney Jack Thompson said he wants to find out whether Robert Hawkins, 19, played any violent video games.Hawkins shot eight people to death, then killed himself at Von Maur on Dec. 5.

Within hours after the Westroads Mall shooting, police searched Hawkins' residence and seized computer equipment, including a laptop, two computer towers and a hard drive, search warrants show.Thompson, who spoke to KETV NewsWatch 7 by phone from Florida, said he wants to know what kind of video games are on the seized equipment."The public has a need to know, has a right to know, what's on his computer hard drive," Thompson said.

More here.

Yale Cops Subject to State FOI, Commission Says

If Yale police can make arrests and testify in court — invoking the same powers as a regular police agency — they should also be subject to open records laws, the head of the state Freedom of Information Commission ruled this week.

Yale University has long kept crime reports and other records held by its police department secret, claiming that its private police force is exempt from public oversight.

Janet Perrotti, a New Haven public defender, challenged that policy after two Yale cops arrested her client, a black teenager, for riding his bike on a city sidewalk this past spring.

More here.

Illinois Ombuds: Open Those Warrants!

Search warrants are public records, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan says.

In a written opinion issued Monday, Madigan said the state Freedom of Information Act, which contains dozens of reasons why government information can be kept secret, does not apply to court records.

Rather, she said, the records are open under the Clerk of Courts Act, which says virtually all court documents are public.

“There is no statutory or other authority for a circuit clerk to unilaterally seal or impound files containing complaints for search warrants, associated affidavits, and the search warrants themselves,” Madigan wrote.

More here.

Washington Supremes Reaffirm Attorney-Client Exemption

A sharply divided state Supreme Court reaffirmed attorney-client privilege exemptions from the state's Public Records Act, and said government agencies can challenge records requests in court before releasing any information.

In a 5-4 ruling published Thursday, the high court said documents relating to a child's peanut-allergy death while on a school field trip could be withheld from The Spokesman-Review newspaper of Spokane because of exemptions for attorney-client privilege and attorney work product.

"We conclude that the vast majority of the documents at issue here are protected from disclosure because they are handwritten notes or memoranda about witness interviews created by the legal team, making them protected work product," Justice Bobbe Bridge wrote.

The ruling also found that state or local government agencies can seek a judgment in superior court over whether a particular record is subject to disclosure.

"It's not a good day for public records in the state of Washington," said Duane Swinton, the attorney who represented the newspaper in the case.

The newspaper sought witness accounts of events leading to the death of Nathan Walters, a Logan Elementary third-grader who died on a school field trip in 2001.

More here.

A New E-Mail Flap, This Time in Cali

The issue seems innocuous on its outside.

Tracy Vice Mayor Suzanne Tucker from her home computer sent e-mails regarding a public forum to officials at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, who were jockeying to build a federal infectious-disease research facility near Tracy.

In the end, the Tracy City Council voted to oppose the lab's bid, which the lab later lost to other candidates.

But one issue remains unsettled, one some say could have profound implications on the workings of government and public access: When does a public official become a private person?

Attorneys for the Tracy Press, who lost a legal battle for those e-mails earlier this year in San Joaquin County Superior Court, continue to seek an answer to that question.

Their case is now in the hands of the California Third District Court of Appeal, which could rule any day.

The implications go beyond media access, said Cheri Matthews, editor of the Tracy Press.

"This is a huge issue. It is more than a newspaper issue - it is a public issue," she said.

In e-mails to lab officials last year, Tucker sought to rework the framework of a subcommittee's hearing on the research facility, which she assumed would easily be dominated by opponents.

The city maintains Tucker acted as a private citizen when she sent those e-mails, and denied the newspaper access to them.

A loss in the court of appeal could greatly increase the chances public officials will influence or manipulate government affairs and hide it from the public, said Mark Connolly, attorney for the Tracy Press.

More here.

ACLU Tennessee Seeks Info on Dress Codes

The American Civil Liberties Union of Middle Tennessee (ACLU-TN) should soon receive the information it has requested to monitor Metro Nashville Public Schools’ standard school attire policy, according to an attorney with the Metro legal department.

The information request was received by Metro Nashville Public Schools Oct. 15, and ACLU-TN requested a response within 30 days.

Starting this school year, all Metro students are required to wear “standard school attire” — a dress code that includes navy blue, black or khaki slacks, shorts or skirts and white or navy blue shirts with short or long sleeves and a collar. Each school may also select up to four additional colors for shirts.

Students have the right to opt out of standard school attire for medical or religious reasons, and ACLU-TN is working to monitor how the district processes those opt-out requests.

On Oct. 12, ACLU-TN submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to Director of Schools Pedro Garcia about attempts to secure exemptions from the standard school attire (SSA) policy. ACLU-TN asked to receive the information within 30 days of the request and followed up several times by phone, Weinberg said, but received no response until last week.

More here.

The Sheriff Gets Fined for FOI violations...

A heartwarming tale for the holidays, in which the lawman runs afoul of the Sunshine Law...you do the crime, you pay the fine.

Madison County (Va.) Sheriff Erik J. Weaver must pay a $250 fine and the plaintiff’s court fees for willfully violating the state’s Freedom of Information Act, a judge ruled Tuesday in Madison County General District Court.

Experts are calling it a potentially precedent-setting case regarding how public officials are punished for failing to comply with open records requests.

Leigh Purdum, a former office employee under Weaver, brought suit when the sheriff refused to identify the people he had appointed to a newly formed citizens advisory board.

Purdum also sought other information about the board, including its meeting dates, the criteria for choosing members, topics of discussion, goals and objectives, and copies of previous minutes.

After Tuesday’s ruling from Judge Robert H. Downer Jr., specially appointed from Albemarle County, Weaver produced the names of the 13 board members.

Maria J.K. Everett, executive director of the state-run Virginia Freedom of Information Advisory Council, believes this is the first time a judge in district court has ruled an elected official willfully violated Virginia FOIA laws.

Everett, who has served in her position since the office was created in July 2000, called the ruling “pretty significant.”

Jennifer Perkins, executive director of the Warrenton-based Virginia Coalition for Open Government, said it’s “a huge step in the right direction.” She said similar cases have always resulted in no monetary punishment.

“It’s a statement,” Perkins said. “The thing we’ve been really frustrated with is (judges’) reluctance to find willful violations when it’s clear to everyone else. … What’s great in this case is that you actually got the punishment.”

More here.

The FBI, Arguing With Itself

It's somewhat heartening to know that there were pretty heated discussions going on between FBI types over whether a court order was needed here...but then again, it's deeply troubling that this needs an argument. Check out the original story here, complete with PDF links to the original FBI e-mails.

By now it's well known that FBI agents can't always be troubled to get a court order before going after a surveillance target's telephone and internet records. But newly released FBI documents show that aggressive surveillance tactics have even caused friction within the bureau.

"We deal mostly with the fugitive squad here, and, like in many other offices, these guys have a reputation for cutting corners," a surveillance specialist at the FBI's Minneapolis field office complained in an internal e-mail last year. "I'm not bashing them; it's the way they do business. Getting a court order is the absolute last step, if they have to.

"Before I had a blowup with a particular agent ... we were constantly asked to call our contacts at service providers to see if we could get various information without having to get a court order," the message continues. "This gets old, believe me. ... Doing this once or twice to help out turns into SOP (standard operating procedure) ... It's expected, and you're criticized as a tech agent if you refuse to do this later on."

The revelation is the second this year showing that FBI employees bypassed court order requirements for phone records. In July, the FBI and the Justice Department Inspector General revealed the existence of a joint investigation into an FBI counter-terrorism office, after an audit found that the Communications Analysis Unit sent more than 700 fake emergency letters to phone companies seeking call records. An Inspector General spokeswoman declined to provide the status of that investigation, citing agency policy...

Videotaping a Public Meeting: Yea or Nea?

A Vienna, Virginia, resident may pursue legal action against Fairfax County Public Schools after being told he had to turn off his video camera or leave Westfield High School during a meeting on the western county high school boundary study Dec. 3.

Bruce Bennett had started to record one of 50 small group discussions taking place in classrooms at the event when a police officer summoned him to the hall and asked him to put his video camera away.

When Bennett refused to stop filming, school officials and police officers escorted him to the entrance and asked him to leave the building, he said.

"They publicly humiliated me when they removed me from [the] room especially in light of the fact that I was just doing what I have a right to do," said Bennett, whose neighborhood would be affected under some redistricting proposals...

Bennett he intends to try and film the third boundary study meeting Dec. 18. He was able to film the first boundary meeting on Nov. 26 in its entirety, he said.

If he informs the school system ahead of time, officials would be happy to find Bennett a room with people who are not uncomfortable around the camera, said Regnier.

It can often be a better tactical move to give officials a heads up when you will want to record or videotape a meeting, said Lucy Dalglish, executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.

More here.

Editor First Winner of GA Coalition's FOI Award

Veteran Ledger-Enquirer reporter and editor Jim Houston is one of two recipients of the Charles L. Weltner Freedom of Information Award for 2007, the Georgia First Amendment Foundation announced Tuesday.

Houston, who retired from the newspaper in August, was lauded for his commitment to open records, use of open records laws during his reporting and mentoring of young reporters about the Freedom of Information Act. Robert Rothman, banquet chairman, called recipients Houston and former Georgia Attorney General Michael Bowers champions of the public's right to know.

"It's the highest honor I could get," Houston said. "I had no concept I would win that award."

Houston's name was launched onto the state stage three years into his career in the 1970s, when he attempted to gain records from Muscogee County Jail. The records were denied, and the newspaper appealed to the Georgia Supreme Court, which ruled that public records are "all documents, papers and records prepared and maintained in the course of the operation of a public office." The definition is still used today.

The sheriff was ordered to hand over the documents, though the city attorney claimed he had lost them. The newspaper never received the information.

More here.

Congress Passes FOIA Reforms...NFOIC Celebrates

Yesterday's HUGE vote was a watershed event for the FOI community in the United States -- my thanks to all of you who wrote and called and spurred your members into action!

Our release:

The passage of important bipartisan reforms to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) is a victory for citizens seeking access to information about their government. The National Freedom of Information Coalition – comprised of representatives of 48 state and regional freedom of information groups – applauds work of all who worked to make these critical reforms a reality.

The NFOIC joined dozens of non-profits to spearhead the reform, and its member FOI coalitions played a vital role, working at the grass-roots level across the country to advocate for changes to the federal Freedom of Information Act.

“This is a victory for the American people, and a welcome example of bipartisan compromise that reconciled differences between the House and Senate bills,” said Charles N. Davis, executive director of the National Freedom of Information Coalition and an associate professor at the University of Missouri School of Journalism. “It’s important for us all to remember whom the federal Freedom of Information Act, and indeed all open government laws, were created for.”

If signed by President Bush, The new OPEN Government Act would:

• Penalize agencies, for the first time, if they missed the 20-day statutory deadline for responding to a FOIA request. The penalty for delays would be a waiver of the processing fee.
• Create an Ombudsman to assist FOIA requestors and provide an alternative to costly and lengthy litigation.
• Clarify that FOIA applies to government records held by outside private contractors;
• Establish a FOIA hotline service for all federal agencies and electronic tracking of all requests.
• Reestablish the right of requesters to recover legal fees if they file suit and “substantially prevail,” without the case going to final court judgment.
• Improve the reporting requirements to create greater performance accountability.

“This bipartisan legislation is an early Christmas present for the citizenry, as it would greatly speed up the process that thousands of taxpaying Americans have invested in and use daily,” Davis said.

Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA), Rep. Tom Davis (R-VA), Rep. William Lacy Clay (D-MO), Rep. Todd Platts (R-PA) and Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) led the effort to pass this legislation. Senator Jon Kyl (R-AZ) also played a key role in getting this legislation over the finish line.

NFOIC members contacted several key players in the reform movement and provided sign-on letters for coalition members to join. The national headquarters worked with an array of non-profit advocacy groups on the issue and wrote repeatedly to leaders in Congress, calling for change.

“The people spoke, and this time Congress listened,” Davis said. “Freedom of information is an elemental component of a representative democracy, enabling citizens to serve as civic watchdogs.”

The National Freedom of Information, headquartered at the University of Missouri, is funded through a grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

Established in 1950, the John S. and James L. Knight foundation makes national grants in journalism, education and arts and culture. Its fourth program, community initiatives, is concentrated in 26 communities where the Knight brothers published newspapers, but the foundation is wholly separate from and independent of those newspapers.

Hillary Sits On Records...

The National Archives is withholding from the public about 2,600 pages of records at President Clinton's direction, despite a public assurance by one of his top aides last month that Mr. Clinton "has not blocked the release of a single document."

The 2,600 pages, stored at Mr. Clinton's library in Arkansas, were deemed to contain "confidential advice" and, therefore, "closed" under the Presidential Records Act, an Archives spokeswoman, Susan Cooper, told The New York Sun yesterday.

An official who oversees the presidential libraries operated by the federal government, Sharon Fawcett, said in a recent interview that the records were withheld in accordance with a letter Mr. Clinton wrote in 1994 exercising his right to hold back certain types of files and another letter in 2002 about narrowing the scope of his earlier instructions. Asked by National Journal whether Mr. Clinton had "total control" over the closure of records under the confidential-advice provisions of the law, Ms. Fawcett said he did.

More here.

Hillary Sits On Records...

The National Archives is withholding from the public about 2,600 pages of records at President Clinton's direction, despite a public assurance by one of his top aides last month that Mr. Clinton "has not blocked the release of a single document."

The 2,600 pages, stored at Mr. Clinton's library in Arkansas, were deemed to contain "confidential advice" and, therefore, "closed" under the Presidential Records Act, an Archives spokeswoman, Susan Cooper, told The New York Sun yesterday.

An official who oversees the presidential libraries operated by the federal government, Sharon Fawcett, said in a recent interview that the records were withheld in accordance with a letter Mr. Clinton wrote in 1994 exercising his right to hold back certain types of files and another letter in 2002 about narrowing the scope of his earlier instructions. Asked by National Journal whether Mr. Clinton had "total control" over the closure of records under the confidential-advice provisions of the law, Ms. Fawcett said he did.

More here.

Florida Papers Get Attorneys' Fees in FEMA FOIA Flap

The federal government has agreed to pay $105,000 in attorney fees for The News-Press after the newspaper successfully sued the Department of Homeland Security for the release of public records.

The News-Press and its sister Gannett Co. Inc. newspapers, The Pensacola News Journal and Florida Today, sued the agency when it refused to release details on the 1.1 million recipients of $1.2 billion in disaster aid after four hurricanes ripped through Florida in 2004.

The money was distributed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, a branch of Homeland Security. FEMA refused to detail who received the aid after the newspapers requested that data under the Freedom of Information Act.

The newspapers initially failed in the attempt to get the information from the government, but they prevailed in The United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.

The government was ordered to turn over the addresses of recipients of disaster aid.

Under the Freedom of Information Act, winning a release of the records allowed the plaintiffs to return to court to request attorneys' fees from the government agency.

"It is gratifying that the government finally recognizes some degree of culpability in this case," said The News-Press Executive Editor Kate Marymont. "We view this as further evidence that we did the correct thing — fight for the public's right to know."

The law firm representing the papers, Holland & Knight, had requested $165,000 in attorney fees but the motions were pending while they tried to work out a deal with the government.

"This is an outstanding result for the newspaper," said lead attorney Charles Tobin. "After years of withholding records, the government has agreed to pay six figures. The amount speaks for itself. It's a victory for the First Amendment."

More here.

Visitor Logs Subject to FOIA, Judge Says

Well, look to get your hands on these about Nov. 3, 2008...

A federal judge on Monday rejected a Bush administration argument for shielding records of White House visits by prominent religious conservatives.

U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth ruled that visitor logs from the White House and Vice President Dick Cheney’s residence are subject to Freedom of Information Act requests. The Secret Service creates the records and is subject to Freedom of Information Act requests.

The Bush administration, however, had ordered that the logs be turned over to the White House and treated as presidential records, which would protect them from public-records law.

In a lawsuit brought by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), a liberal watchdog group, Lamberth ordered the Secret Service to turn over visitor logs regarding nine conservative religious commentators, including James Dobson, Gary Bauer and Jerry Falwell, according to an Associated Press report.

Lamberth said he did not have the authority to rule on a second CREW lawsuit seeking to render illegal the White House’s destruction of log records provided by the Secret Service. That lawsuit involved logs of White House visits by disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

More here.

FOI At Work: A Great Series on a Shameful Secret...

Every year, Arizona teachers lose their jobs because they molest their students, say sexually inappropriate things, even sleep with them in some cases. But schools, protected by state law, routinely keep these incidents secret. And educators move on to other jobs with little consequence.

The East Valley Tribune takes a long look at the issue, thanks to a BUNCH of FOI requests. Be sure to check out the great searchable database of public records here.

Tennessee Reform Update

The Commercial Appeal brings us up to date on how Tennessee's FOI reform efforts are shaping up:

Tennessee's Public Records law was enacted in 1957, declaring that "all state, county and municipal records shall at all times during business hours be open for personal inspection by any citizen of Tennessee."

Seventeen years later, lawmakers adopted its companion Open Meetings Act, which says: "All meetings of any governing body are declared to be public meetings open to the public at all times, except as provided by the Constitution of Tennessee."

In theory, the two laws work in tandem to give Tennesseans broad access to state and local government.

The reality has been less than the ideal. About 230 exemptions have been amended into the Public Records Act, including many -- medical records, Social Security numbers and student records -- that most people favor.

A "Right to Know Audit" in 2004 by the Tennessee Coalition for Open Government sent volunteers into government offices in all 95 counties asking to see some benign public document that citizens have a legal right to inspect -- items such as the minutes of planning commission meetings, where officials decide what can be built on the vacant lot next door.

On average, the coalition volunteers were denied that right about one-third of the time.

In October, a Knoxville jury of 12 citizens ruled that their county commission violated the Open Meetings Act when members met privately in small groups to select appointees to 12 top offices, including the sheriff, county clerk, trustee, register of deeds and eight commission seats. The decisions were later rubber-stamped in public.

The Knox County case raised concerns among local government officials statewide when the judge threatened commissioners with contempt of court if they violated the law again. It brought to a head three decades of frustration with the so-called "Sunshine Law" among many local officials.

Coincidentally, a separate effort by media and open-government advocates to update the two laws for an era of electronic data-keeping and communications gave the associations that represent city and county governments, school boards, public hospitals, public utilities and others an opening to seek modifications in the Open Meetings Act. The legislature created a special committee to study issues and propose remedies. In its hearings this fall, both sides pressed their cases...

HUGE FOIA News...

This just in...

Reversing a trend toward secrecy, federal agencies would have to be more responsive to Freedom of Information Act requests under legislation approved by the Senate Friday.

The bill, approved by voice vote, commits the government to be more open, shifting policies that since the Sept. 11 attacks have emphasized security in responding to requests for information.

The measure makes minor revisions to previously passed legislation to meet House concerns. The House could take it up next week, before adjourning for the year.

The bill would give the 40-year-old act its first makeover in a decade, streamlining a process plagued by long delays and bureaucratic obstacles. It is supported by dozens of media outlets, including The Associated Press.

It restores a presumption of disclosure standard that would commit agencies to releasing requested information unless there is a finding that such disclosure could do harm.

After Sept. 11, then Attorney General John Ashcroft instructed agencies against releasing information when there was any uncertainty over security or law enforcement exemptions.

The "Open Government Act" will "help to reverse the troubling trends of excessive delays and lax FOIA compliance in our government and help to restore the public's trust in their government," said Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., who sponsored the bill with Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas.

Cornyn tried in previous years to push a similar bill he authored through the Senate. When he was stat attorney general, Cornyn was responsible for enforcing open government laws.

"It's encouraging to see us so close to enacting sweeping reforms that will let more sunshine in government and increase the people's right to know," Cornyn said.

Leahy has been working with the Justice Department on the legislation and the administration is expected to support it.

It would take steps to ensure that agencies abide by the 20-day deadline for responding to FOIA requests, including a requirement that FOIA offices get requests for information to the appropriate agency office within 10 days of receiving the request.

Agencies that fail to meet the 20-day deadline would have to refund search and duplication fees for noncommercial requesters.

The legislation creates a tracking system for FOIA requests to help members of the public and the media and establishes a FOIA hotline service for all federal agencies to deal with problems.

FOIA would be applied to government records held by private contractors and a FOIA ombudsman would be established to provide an alternative to litigation over disclosure disputes.

More here. And here.

Gov's Mansion in Tennessee Draws Ire

A Nashville-based taxpayer group took aim at the governor's residence underground expansion plans.

Tennesseans for Accountability in Government met in a large ballroom at the Loews Vanderbilt Hotel.

A room, members said, is only half the size of the underground room planned for the governor's mansion.

The watchdog group claims the finances for the renovations on the mansion have been shrouded in secrecy.

TAG Vice President Susan Kaestner said the group organized the media event to raise public awareness about the proposed $19.2 million renovation and ballroom addition to the Executive Residence.

TAG members took aim at the second phase of the project. Their charge is that the project mushroomed into a large and unnecessary project underwritten by public and private money.

"We demand before the first shovel breaks the ground, the secrecy surrounding this projetc be lifted and the plans and cost be made public by the state," Kaestner said.

But state architect Mike Fitts said everything has been done under the watchful eye of the State Building Commission. He said much of the funding is from private donations.

Fitts said the project has changed somewhat since it was announced four years ago, but "that is not unusual with a project of this scale and complexity."

"The use of state funds has always been contemplated for appropriate parts of the restoration of this state property, but this has been a very public process carried out with the State Building Commission's oversight," he said.

More here.

FOI Down Under: Fewer requests, but more access

From The Australian:

In Australia, FOI requests have hit their lowest level in five years.

But more FOI applications are being approved, the latest figures show.

The annual report on freedom of information laws, released today by former Howard government attorney-general Philip Ruddock, details how well the crucial laws are achieving their aim of ensuring transparency in government.

It also shows bureaucrats are still refusing to release a great deal of information held by federal departments.

One in five requests for information during 2006-07 was knocked back at least in part, although 80 per cent of applications were granted for full release - a two per cent increase on 2005-06.

Centrelink and the departments of Immigration and Veterans' Affairs were the main recipients of FOI requests during 2006-07, mostly from people seeking details on their own cases.

A total of 38,787 FOI requests were received by all federal departments and agencies - down from 41,430 on the previous year and the lowest number since 2001-02.

Of the 34,158 rulings made during the year, 1,499 were refused outright, 5,128 were “partially granted” - and thus partially refused - and 27,531 were granted in full.

Documents granted for partial release frequently contain large sections of blacked-out material that prevent the applicant from knowing the full story.

But the number of FOI applications refused outright fell from six per cent in 2005-06 to 4.4 per cent in the last financial year.

The Single Best Use of FOIA I Have Seen This Holiday Season

Every once in a while, there comes an act of such singular genius that you must simply step aside and let it tell itself...courtesy of the Dallas Morning News:

Who's been naughty and is likely to end up with a stocking full of coal?

It might just be Santa Claus or Kris Kringle.

Public records show that nationally, someone named Santa Claus has been convicted at least a dozen times during the past decade.

Mr. Claus' indiscretions include a 1996 arrest for driving while intoxicated in Jefferson County, Texas.

And Mr. Kringle has a lengthy criminal record in Oregon.

Even the Christmas crew appears to have had some troubles: Rudolph Reindeer violated a restraining order in 2004.

But don't plug the chimney and forgo the cookies and milk just yet.

Skilled backgrounders know that you can't just put someone on the naughty list based on a name. Many people have the same name, but other information would distinguish them – such as their date of birth or home address.

Unless Santa has a summer home in Beaumont, it's unlikely the Texas drunken driver with the same name is the Santa Claus. None had an address at the actual North Pole, according to public records. But several residents of North Pole, Alaska, have criminal records.

And yes, in Virginia there is a Santa Claus. In fact, there are at least four – two of whom are women. But no public records showed criminal records for those Clauses.

Birth dates also can distinguish individuals in background checks. All of the Clauses and Kringles with criminal records were born in the 1900s. It has been published widely that the Santa Claus was around before that.

While this topic may seem like a frivolous excuse for a writer to combine public records and the holiday season, it's not all fun and games.

Backgrounding Santa is not unusual. Companies frequently run background checks on the individuals they hire to stand in for the famous North Pole gift-giver, particularly in cases where they interact with children.

Police in some areas of England this year asked organizations that employ "Father Christmas, elves and other festive characters" to run background checks, according to British news reports.

The same techniques I used to check on Mr. Claus can be used to check up on other people in your life.

Several online sites claim they can background someone for a fee, but many of those services are pricey. Government databases often are less expensive.

The Texas Department of Public Safety Web site provides access to a database of criminal conviction records. For a fee, you can search by a person's name.

If your search turns up no records, you're not necessarily in the clear; the records are incomplete because the agency relies on whatever information the counties provide. According to DPS, for example, Dallas County reported 78 percent of its 2004 criminal conviction records to the state, which is a marked improvement from just a few years ago. Denton County did better by reporting 82 percent of its records.

Salt Lake Trib Wins A Lawsuit Over Records It Should Have Been Handed The Day It Asked For Them...

Isn't it maddening that a fine FOI newspaper like the Salt Lake Tribune has to waste its litigation bullets on stuff that it should simply be handed that day of teh request? Madness!

Overtime and bonuses for city employees are fair game for public inspection, according to a court decision in a lawsuit between Sandy City and The Salt Lake Tribune.

The Tribune in 2004 requested records containing the names, positions, genders, pay and benefits for Sandy City police officers and fire department employees. The city refused to release certain details, claiming that an individual's bonus and overtime records are private information and not subject to the state Government Records Access and Management Act, which lists a public employee's "gross compensation" as a public record.

Sandy City offered to provide one figure reflecting the sum of overtime, bonus and regular pay for each employee, but Tribune reporters had requested a breakdown of total pay.

"Every other city they asked gave them that information," said Michael Patrick O'Brien, attorney for The Tribune.

The State Records Committee in 2005 upheld the Tribune's request, but Sandy City appealed the decision to the 3rd District Court.

In an opinion filed Friday, Judge Robert P. Faust rejected Sandy City attorneys' definition of "gross compensation" as a total sum that does not segregate overtime and bonuses from regular pay - a definition they supported with Webster's Dictionary, Faust wrote.

More here.

Google, Wikipedia: Government records hard to find!

The Washington Post drops in on the pubic records/search engine issue:

These days you can Google just about anything, from your favorite celebrity's pet to your boss's middle name. But using the biggest search engine to get information about the government often falls short.

That's what leaders from Google and Wikipedia plan to tell the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs today, urging Congress to require federal agencies to make their Web sites, records and databases more searchable...

Four out of five Web surfers use search engines to find information, usually bypassing a site's home page unless the page appears in the search results, said John Lewis Needham, manager of public-sector content partnerships for Google.

Needham has spent the past 18 months working with agencies to make their online presence more Googlable. The Internet giant is also working with states to let people search databases to find, for example, licensing records, consumer complaints and financial transactions. Virginia and the District have partnered with Google.

The biggest hurdle agencies face in sharing information with one another and with citizens is not the technology but rather how the agencies organize information, said Karen Evans, who oversees the e-government program for the Office of Management and Budget. OMB also must protect the privacy of people listed in the hundreds of millions of records on file, she said.

Suit In Illinois Seeks Access to Investgatory Records

An age-old tactic: close the investigation, then magically re-open it when someone asks for the records...

The Illinois State Police should release records of its investigations into claims that political interference undermined state probes of two pharmacies, the Chicago Tribune said in a lawsuit filed Monday.

State police officials said in October that the investigations were closed without prosecution, which means the files should be publicly available under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act, the newspaper contends.

But in November -- after the Tribune asked for the files -- state police officials announced the investigations had been reopened and they refused to turn over the records, according to the suit filed in Sangamon County Circuit Court.

More here.

FOI At Work: State Senator Guides Grant, Gets Paid...

A nice, nice piece of FOI-driven work in Alabama, that spins a motley tale...

State Sen. E.B. McClain received about $4,000 a month for several years from a nonprofit program after he helped persuade Alabama's two-year college system to fund it, records show.

The college system paid Heritage to Hope, a Birmingham nonprofit, more than $310,000 from February 2004 through September 2006 to operate a computer-based tutoring program that helped 13 people complete at least one level of training, according to system records. The program, canceled last year, was supposed to recruit high-school dropouts for training that would help them acquire a GED, a high-school equivalency certificate.

McClain, a Birmingham Democrat, was paid as a consultant by the program after helping it receive the two-year college funding, said the Rev. Sam Pettagrue, the retired pastor of Sardis Baptist Church and creator of the nonprofit.

Read more here.

As the Keystone State Turns...

The state House unanimously adopted a comprehensive amendment to an open records bill that would presume the records of all branches of state and local governments are public, as it passed a number of amendments to the bill Monday night. House members confidently predicted their failure to pass the bill last week would not bar the bill from being sent to Gov. Ed Rendell before the end of the year.

But about three hours after that vote was taken, Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi, R-Delaware, put out a statement in which he said: "The House adopted 19 separate amendments to Senate Bill 1 . Under House rules, the earliest that the bill can be sent to the Senate is late Tuesday night.

"The Senate approved this legislation, 48 to 1, on November 28. It is unfortunate that the leadership of the House of Representatives chose to delay substantive action for 12 days.

"The public and the Senate need to fully understand the impact of the many House amendments. We will begin studying them immediately. Strengthening Pennsylvania's Open Records Law remains my top legislative priority. As such, the Senate will act on Senate Bill 1 as soon as we return in January."

A vote on final passage of the House measure could come Tuesday night after 9 p.m., unless the House votes to suspend its rules and votes earlier.

The omnibus amendment changed a Senate bill that expanded access to state and local government records, but limited the number of legislative and judicial records available to the public, mostly to financial records.

Another turn in the PA saga....

The fits-and-starts process of overhauling Pennsylvania's open records law took a step forward Monday as the House of Representatives made a host of mostly minor revisions to a version previously approved by the state Senate. The main amendment, a measure sponsored by Rep. Tim Mahoney, D-Fayette, would provide greater access to records of the Legislature but prevented disclosure of birth dates and phone numbers in public records. The grueling hours of votes on Monday laid the groundwork for a final vote in the House, which could come as early as Tuesday. A House-Senate conference committee may be necessary to negotiate a compromise version before the measure can gain final approval by each body and be sent to Gov. Ed Rendell.

Read more here.

GREAT New NY Govt Data Site

From the Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin:

Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's office launched a Web site Wednesday that aims to shed some light on government at work in Albany. Dubbed Project Sunlight, it offers citizens access to data on campaign financing, lobbying, agency contracts, member items, legislation, as well as profit and not-for-profit corporations registered in New York. It's a broad offering of important information conveniently linked on one site.

For example, if you were searching data connected to a bill, here you can find out its number, name of its sponsor, a summary and who lobbied for it. The information available on your elected representative includes contact information including his/her Web site, counties served, sponsored legislation, campaign contributions, member items and contracts.

Information on member items can also be accessed by clicking on your county within a map of New York. A window pops up telling how many member items have been awarded this year. This format is great, because with a gentle scroll across the screen, you can see where the majority of tax dollars tapped for member items are showing up. Quite informative, indeed...

Check it out here.

PA closer to a real FOI law...

The Pennsylvania statehouse could be the scene of real FOI reform...or not. It seems too close to call from here, so I'll take you to the coverage, here. And here. The good news? They're working on it hard. The bad news? When the House started debating the legislation Wednesday, 40 new amendments had been introduced to muddy the message.

After several weeks of maneuvering, there is now only one major difference between the two competing bills. The House bill includes language that asserts that all legislative and executive records, plus financial records for the judicial branch, should be presumed to be open. That means the impetus would be placed on the government to keep records closed, as opposed to the current system in which the public must often fight to see public records.

This would be a major, major improvement, in its current form. But watch those amendments...

A Compromise on Concealed Weapon Permits in VA...?

The state police would withhold information about Virginians with permits to carry concealed handguns and allow no exceptions for political organizations and firearms advocates under legislation endorsed Monday by a state advisory council.

The draft legislation would prohibit the state police from releasing its database containing the identities of state residents with concealed-carry permits. The information had been considered a public record until March, when a Roanoke Times editorial writer wrote a column encouraging readers to check the list and included a link to the database. The newspaper obtained the database under the Freedom of Information Act.

Publication of the list triggered outrage from gun owners and advocates. The newspaper removed the database after receiving hundreds of complaints.

In response to the complaints, lawmakers vowed to take steps to restrict access to the information. The state police stopped distributing the information in April on the advice of Attorney General Bob McDonnell. Draft legislation endorsed Monday by the state Freedom of Information Advisory Council would make the ban permanent.

More here.

Great work from a smaller market...

For all of those out there who think building FOI-driven databases is too hard and too expensive and too time-consuming, take a look at the Bristol, Virginia, Herald Courier's newest online venture...

Gathering local government salaries from across Southwest Virginia and Northeast Tennessee was not only an arduous exercise of fiscal oversight for this newspaper, but also showed that localities routinely fail to follow open records laws.

The Bristol Herald Courier set out more than a year ago to collect salary data from what ended up being 65 local jurisdictions funded by taxpayers.

Every town, city, county and school system in an 11-county, two-state region – an area with a collective land mass larger than the entire state of Connecticut – was compiled for comparison purposes.

But not without a futile fight from many jurisdictions.
Johnson City never fully complied with our request under the Tennessee Public Records Act; instead of releasing first names, as the law requires, Johnson City disclosed first initials.

It also took Johnson City more than four months to even release the salaries of its city employees.

“Tennessee law says records in the hands of government shall be open for inspection during business hours and cannot be withheld unless there is a specific law that makes it confidential,” said Frank Gibson, executive director of the Tennessee Coalition for Open Government. “It’s assumed that means immediate release, but there is not a specific limit on how much time a custodian has to respond or to provide the information.”

An open government study committee has recommended that Tennessee implement a four-day time frame for compliance with the Public Records Act.

“Simple, small requests are to be immediate,” Gibson wrote in an e-mail. “In others the record keeper must grant the request or within 4 days cite a specific exemption in the law that allows the information to be withheld or explain why the record can’t be produced within the 4-day period.”

As Johnson City finally released the salary records, the city also tried to engage in a bit of horse trading.

See the whole series -- and access the database -- 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.

In Wisconsin, the Bins Runneth Dry...

Madison, Wisconsin police are promising to look into why almost all daily police reports have stopped showing up in a bin at police headquarters that news reporters have used for years to keep residents informed about crime in their city.

"This the first I've heard that it's dried up," Capt. Carl Gloede, the department's chief records custodian, said in a recent interview. "I'll have to see who's doing the sorting now and pick their brain about what they're doing."

The dearth of information comes at a time when public interest in crime is intense. Hundreds of residents attended a series of meetings with police this fall to complain about crime and disorder in their neighborhoods...

The change started in late August, when fewer and fewer reports of assaults, thefts, burglaries and other incidents began showing up. The trend increased throughout the fall, with only a few reports of stolen bicycles or stacks of parking tickets put out.

Since at least October, regular checks have shown nothing in the bin other than an arrest log, which contains the minimal information police are required to provide under the law whenever a person is picked up, including the person's name, case number and tentative charge.

But the log does not describe the circumstances of an arrest, nor does it include any incident that did not involve an arrest.

More here.

Google in Florida records deal...

From The Buzz:

Florida and Google Inc. announced a partnership Monday that both say will make it easier for citizens to get access to public records through search engines. Gov. Charlie Crist said the Web site improvements will not cost the state any money, while a Google official, John Burchett, said he hoped his firm would receive increased traffic as a result.

Many records that are public are beyond the reach of Google's "crawlers," the automated seekers of online data that slam into firewalls into Florida for all kinds of reasons. Examples of records that will now be searchable include public school FCAT scores, water and waste permits, employment data and consumers' commuting patterns.

The Google deal follows Crist's creation of an Office of Open Government; a study commission on how government can become more accessible to citizens; and an executive order requiring state agencies' basic documents to be in plain language.

Florida is the sixth state to enter into a venture with Google, joining Arizona, California, Michigan, Utah and Virginia. To see how to get access to that hard-to-find information, go to http://www.google.com/publicsector.