President's auto task force owns foreign cars??

FOI at Work!
The Detroit News used public records to find out whether members of the Presidential Task Force on the Audio Industry and the policy aides who will assist them own American cars. The results are pretty scary for the Detroit auto industry.

The vehicles owned by the Obama administration's auto team could reflect one reason why Detroit's Big Three automakers are in trouble: The list includes few new American cars.

Among the eight members named Friday to the Presidential Task Force on the Auto Industry and the 10 senior policy aides who will assist them in their work, two own American models. Add the Treasury Department's special adviser to the task force and the total jumps to three.

The Detroit News reviewed public records to discover what many of the task force and staff members drove, but information was not available on all of the officials, and records for some states were not complete.

More here.

Task Forces, Advisory Meetings, and Publicly Funded Arenas: A Rich Mix

Hartford, CT Mayor Eddie A. Perez is dancing...

The mayor:

wanted to know whether there was sentiment within the Greater Hartford business community to support a new downtown arena, so he created a "task force" to study the question.

When that group's first meeting was held behind closed doors in April, The Courant questioned the secrecy and filed a Freedom of Information complaint with the state. The group stopped meeting at city hall and retreated to the offices of the MetroHartford Alliance regional economic development organization.

There, business leaders say they can talk with candor, out of earshot of the press and public.

They met again Tuesday, turning away a Courant reporter. Perez and the city contend the task force meetings are private.

They might ought not be, Mayor...people grow suspicious quickly these days about arena deals, and when you embrace the 'ol smoke-filled room, things generally go downhill from there.