Local Open Government Blog : Open Government Law : Foster Pepper Law Firm : Northwest, Seattle, Spokane, Portland Lawyer & Attorney

Has the Obama Administration effected real change in FOIA responsiveness? A recent Associated Press article, claims that the federal Freedom of Information Act is unwieldy and difficult, and that only the most patient and persistent requesters actually obtain the sought-for information. The article is critical of agencies’ efforts in implementing President Obama’s promise to make government more open and release more information rapidly.

During an event sponsored for Sunshine Week, March 13-19, reported in the AP article, Associate Attorney General Tom Perrelli is quoted as stating that more records are going out unredacted than ever before. “Where we once might have looked at a document, noticed a piece that could be released, and redacted the rest, we’re now more often determining that we can release the whole thing,” Perrelli is quoted as saying. However, a witness before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Thomas Fitton of Judicial Watch, stated that the conservative watchdog group has “filed 44 lawsuits to force the Obama administration to comply with the law.”

But perhaps there has been a change in how the Administration views the FOIA – now that it is on the inside. In a blog posted March 16 to celebrate Sunshine Week, Steve Croley, a Special Assistant to the President for Justice and Regulatory Policy, points out that it is not in the public’s interests to release every document: “Our government also owes its citizens, among other things, protection of their personal privacy and business confidentiality, effective law enforcement, and a strong national defense.”

In Washington State on the other hand, the courts continue to liberally construe the state’s Public Records Act, and continue to extended its reach. See, for example, the expansive interpretation of the Public Records Act to include records contained on a city council member’s home computer discussed in our blog post of December 22, 2010, “City of Monroe, Washington Pays $157,394 to Settle Public Records Act Case.”
 

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Update 6/6

As reported by the Huffington Post, President Obama has now included a provision in a war-funding bill that would protect the detainee abuse photos from disclosure. 

Update 6/2

McLatchy Reports: "Why'd Obama switch on detainee photos? Maliki went ballistic."  While fear of foreign uprisings may not be an exemption under FOIA, maybe it should be.

Update 5/19

A federal appeals court has now affirmed the position of President Obama that White House Office of Administration is not subject to the Freedom of Information Act, reasoning that the entity only implements administrative decisions and does not form policy.

Update 5/16

Here is some more food for thought on the President's reasons for not releasing the photos.

Update 5/15

As noted in this article, "Like Bush, Obama White House Chooses Secrecy for Key Office," President Obama is continuing the Bush-era policy of exempting the White House Office of Administration from the Freedom of Information Act.  The article ends by reminding reader's of one of the President's campaign promises on openness:

"More and more, the real business of our democracy isn't done in town halls or public meetings or even in the open halls of Congress," he told an Iowa audience in 2007. "Decisions are made in closed-door meetings, or with the silent stroke of the President's pen, or because some lobbyist got some Congressman to slip his pet project into a bill during the dead of night. We have to take the blinders off the White House."

President Obama has now reversed his position on the release of the additional photographs showing the prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib.  When the first batch of photos were released in 2004, it caused world-wide outrage.  This article analyzes and deconstructs the six reasons  President Obama seems to be relying on for this change. 

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Not only has President Obama maintained Bush's position on "state secrets" in the U.S. -- claiming a civil lawsuit must be dismissed because the plaintiff's evidence are "state secrets" -- he is now threatening the British Government if they allow U.S. "state secrets" to be used in a civil suit in that country. 

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Here is an editorial on the "torture memos" from the Olympian written by the editor of this blog, Ramsey Ramerman.  It was inspired by George Will's recent statement on ABC's This Week:  "The problem with transparency is that it’s transparent for the terrorists as well.”

Update 5/13:  Here's the Og-Blog's take on the editorial.  As it correctly notes, President Obama's administration has not been as transparent as many had hoped, particularly with regards to the Federal Reserve and the AIG bailout. 

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