Ellington

Through our membership in the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies, the Jackson Free Press is part of the Sunshine in Government Initiative, a coalition of media groups that are working to bring more accountability—or "sunshine" as we call it—to government. This week is Sunshine Week, a time that highlights the commitment to open government in the U.S. Following is a verbatim statement from Richard Karpel, executive director of AAN that explains what is happening in D.C. on this front. Fortunately, we can report some success so far:

On Tuesday, March 13—during Sunshine Week—the House of Representatives is expected to vote on a package of bills that represent the biggest advance in open-government laws in years.

The votes expected next week on the House floor include legislation (HR 1309) to strengthen the way agencies respond to requests for information under the Freedom of Information Act. A separate bill promotes disclosure of donations to presidential libraries. A third reverses an executive order signed during the first term of President George W. Bush that allows former presidents and their heirs a say in the handling of the papers of former administrations.

The members of the Sunshine in Government Initiative, a coalition of media groups that includes AAN, have been focusing our support on strengthening FOIA, but the fact that Congress is voting on these reforms is remarkable and should be commended by all those who support open government.

The FOIA reforms that Congress is considering are common sense ideas that are long overdue. They include giving requesters a tracking number to follow the status of their requests online or by phone, creating an ombudsman to help requesters, pressing agencies to resolve FOIA disputes without litigation, making agencies pay the legal costs when they improperly delay or deny requests and strengthening agency reporting on their FOIA processing.

The Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to hold hearings on their own FOIA reform legislation on Wednesday, March 14, the day after the House votes on HR 1309. The Senate bill is expected to be similar to the House bill.

There hasn't been an opportunity to reform the FOIA process in years, and we hope you will consider educating your readers about this important action in Congress. Letters or other contact with individual congressmen would help as well.

If you would like more information about the FOIA reform legislation, or the other open government bills that will be considered in the House next week, please feel free to contact me or SGI coordinator Rick Blum, who can be reached at (703) 807-2100 or [e-mail missing].

Previous Comments

ID

171514

Comment

Larry Fisher won't like this bill, that's a fact.

Author

Ironghost

Date

2007-03-11T12:38:40-06:00

ID

171515

Comment

As much as we all can mock th Cl as poor reporters and corporate dominators that have no respect for competition and try to muscle it out... There was a good article on Hinds county and the lack of open records to say the least. More needs to be looked into it (god knows the Cl has the story and now has dropped it) There is no reason a reporter should be threatened, be told he was sent through a background check with the FBI, be threatened with arrest again, all over a plan that is public record. Hinds county again hiding facts..... AGamma627

Author

AGamm627

Date

2007-03-11T21:35:42-06:00

ID

171516

Comment

AGamma, Who was threatened? I don't think I've heard about this.

Author

LawClerk

Date

2007-03-11T23:15:26-06:00

ID

171517

Comment

Here is The Clarion-Ledger article. This is an excellent article from the New York Times on presidential papers. President George W. Bush's 2001 executive order restricted the release of presidential records by giving sitting presidents the power to delay the release of papers indefinitely, while extending the control of former presidents, vice presidents and their families. It also changed the system from one that automatically released documents 30 days after a current or former president is notified to one that withholds papers until a president specifically permits their release. ... Mr. Blanton blamed the archive's previous leadership for initially failing to respond to added pressures on the system. But he made clear that the latest executive order has significantly worsened the problem. At a congressional hearing last week he said that waiting time at the Reagan Presidential Library had increased to six and a half years from 18 months in 2001. "There was a fair, reasonable, orderly, clear, sensible and workable process for presidential records in place during the 1990s," which Mr. Bush's executive order "overturned and replaced with the opposite," Mr. Blanton testified. It "is not just wrong, it's stupid."

Author

Brian C Johnson

Date

2007-03-12T08:17:34-06:00

ID

171518

Comment

Hopefully this is a GO. It's about time that records about OUR government become transparent. Too much has been hidden over the years and it has caused so many problems. Bush continues his mission as KING of America by attempting to keep the public's ears and eyes out of OUR business. Reporters are treated like kids: Sit down, Get back, Shut up, Your're out, Don't show, and for god's sake, Don't tell.

Author

justjess

Date

2007-03-12T08:48:53-06:00