Free Republic

Lawmakers are considering sealing the governor’s travel records. Republicans say it’s about the governor’s safety and security while Democrats say it’s about the safety of the governor’s political ambitions. Lawmakers readied the bill Monday for a final vote on Tuesday. The bill would make all travel logs of the governor, the state’s cabinet members, legislative leaders, and the Chief Justice exempt from public record requests. Also, the bill is retroactive, meaning if signed into law any records regarding protection, travel, and potential threats in the past, present and future would be sealed. “That’s what the bill is about, safety and...

The Missouri Supreme Court ordered on Friday that St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kimberly Gardner comply with a public records request from Just the News Editor-in-Chief John Solomon regarding the prosecution of former Gov. Eric Greitens.Solomon filed a public records request in July 2019 under Missouri's Sunshine Law for about two and a half years' worth of communications between Gardner's office and the Missouri Workforce Housing Association, state Representatives Stacy Newman and Jay Barnes, along with several other groups and individuals.Gardner is one of the first big-city district attorneys bankrolled by liberal megadonor Soros.The public records request sought documents related to...

U.S. Capitol Police Tells Federal Court January 6 Videos Are Not Public Records UJudicial Watch Seeks Biden Pentagon Emails on ‘Countering Extremism Working Group’ Texas Supreme Court Asked to Review Suit for Docs on Qatari’s Funding of Texas A&M Deposition Ordered for Mayor Lightfoot’s Office Over Her Racist Interview Policy U.S. Capitol Police Tells Federal Court January 6 Videos Are Not Public Records What is Nancy Pelosi hiding? The U.S. Capitol Police are trying to shut down a public records lawsuit for January 6 disturbance video and emails by arguing to a federal court that the requested records are...

New Clinton Emails Include Benghazi and Classified Information Schiff Asserts Privilege over His Impeachment Phone Record Subpoenas FBI Shuts Online Public Records Operation over Coronavirus Another Illegal Immigrant Caravan Leaves Honduras for the U.S. New Clinton Emails Include Benghazi and Classified Information The FBI found more Hillary Clinton emails. This is, of course, after the State Department assured us long ago it had produced all releasable Clinton emails, including emails recovered by the FBI that Clinton tried to destroy or withhold. We released 80 pages of emails that further document how former Secretary of State Clinton used her unsecure,...

In a landmark win for news media and other open-records advocates, the Washington state Supreme Court ruled Thursday that legislators are subject to the state Public Records Act. In the 7-2 ruling, Justice Susan Owens wrote that “under the plain meaning” of the records act, “individual legislators’ offices are ‘agencies’ subject to the PRA’s general public records disclosure mandate. Legislative history confirms rather than contradicts our conclusion. Accordingly, we hold that the News Media Plaintiffs are entitled to judgment as a matter of law on this issue.” But Owens ruled that the Legislature’s administrative offices are not “agencies” and are...

In a huge blow to government transparency, a city in a state that disregards federal immigration and drug statutes is keeping records secret by asserting that the “material is so candid or personal that public disclosure is likely to stifle honest and frank discussion within the government.” It is a laughable excuse to withhold records in an apparent effort to coverup embarrassing and perhaps unprofessional behavior by public officials on taxpayer equipment and time. Here’s some background; in September Judicial Watch uncovered a controversy involving the northern Colorado city of Ft. Collins’ search for a new police chief. A highly...

Nobody should be more grateful than Republicans in the Wisconsin Legislature for the recent holiday weekend, and not just because they needed a break from the stress of budget-writing—though it’s apparent they did. Things closing last Friday for the Saturday holiday gave the other 5.7 million Wisconsinites a chance to miss the Joint Finance Committee’s extraordinarily ill-advised effort to exempt most communications involving state lawmakers from coverage by open records law. This ham-fisted insult to government transparency was walked back before the weekend was half over, in hopes of minimizing the damage. Which is a good thing, but it leaves...

Gov. Andrew Cuomo took office four years ago promising the most transparent administration in history, but journalists and advocacy groups say his office tightly controls requests for public records on anything controversial and routinely delays or denies their release. For decades, responding to requests under New York’s Freedom of Information Law was the responsibility of individual state agencies. Current and former state officials say that began to change a year into Cuomo’s administration, and now such requests are often routed through the governor’s legal counsel. …

In light of an alleged self-defense killing of 17-year-old unarmed Trayvon Martin by neighborhood watch captain George Zimmerman, Florida’s concealed weapons laws have been thrust into the spotlight. Most residents can obtain concealed weapons permits, according to state law. In California, in contrast, residents must contact their local police department or county Sheriff’s Office, as rules differ by region. San Mateo County residents may obtain Concealed Weapons permits (CCP), which allows them to legally to carry a loaded "a pistol, revolver, or other firearm capable of being concealed on the person.”

Madison - State election officials put off making recall petitions available publicly on Monday after hearing privacy concerns from people who signed them. The state Government Accountability Board provided copies of the petitions against Gov. Scott Walker to Walker's campaign on Friday and had said that it planned to post copies of them on its website on Monday. But agency spokesman Reid Magney said the board was holding off on posting them online after hearing concerns about a stalking victim and others who did not want their names released. Recall organizers say more than 1 million people signed petitions to...

About 100 angry members of California's largest state workers union launched a sidewalk protest against The Bee on Wednesday for posting a searchable database of state employees' salaries on the newspaper's Web site. Shouting slogans and carrying placards in front of the newspaper's building, the members of the 80,000-strong Service Employees International Union Local 1000 criticized The Bee for what they said was a violation of their right to personal privacy. Union leaders met privately with Bee executives and presented petitions with an estimated 3,000 signatures demanding that the paper take down the database, at www.sacbee.com/statepay. Union President Jim Hard...

Open the First Lady files template_bas template_bas Hillary Clinton should help the National Archives put release of her White House papers on a fast track. August 29, 2007 In asking a federal court to force the National Archives to release papers from Hillary Rodham Clinton's time as first lady, the public interest group Judicial Watch has opened itself to the charge that it's on a fishing expedition. Maybe so, but the group is fishing with a license -- the Freedom of Information Act. That law allows citizens to inspect public documents after deletions are made for privilege or national security....

The salaries of government employees in California, including police officers, are a public record and must be available upon request to "ensure transparency in government," the state Supreme Court ruled in a decision released Monday morning. The right to privacy of the information that employee unions argued "is not a reasonable one," the justices wrote, ending a lawsuit the Contra Costa Times filed more than three years ago against the city of Oakland. Even if disclosure of the information "may cause discomfort or embarrassment" it must be released, the decision states. The justices wrote that police salaries must be disclosed...

Hunkins denies role in GOP probe Freudenthal says statement untrue By Kevin Wingert rep3@wyomingnews.com Published in the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle CHEYENNE - The Republican gubernatorial candidate disavowed any responsibility for the actions of the Wyoming Republican Party on Thursday and said he wanted to be responsible for leading the party back into a Reagan-esque era of unity. "The request was not made on my watch, so it is neither fair play nor 'clean politics' to associate this records request with me in any way," Ray Hunkins said. "This same principle holds true with respect to the radio advertisement: It was created...

It is the nine-digit key to your life - and B.J. Ostergren has more than 18,000 of them. For the past four years, the 57-year-old former insurance adjuster has lost sleep to gain boxes crammed with public records, many plucked from county clerks and recorders' Web sites. They have one golden kernel: Social Security numbers, usually partnered with enough information to open a fraudulent line of credit - or worse. From her home in Hanover County, Va., she writes and calls the holders of the numbers she turns up, many of whom did not know their records were online. Her...

HASBROUCK HEIGHTS, NJ -- Library Director Michele Reutty is under fire for refusing to give police library circulation records without a subpoena. Reutty says she was only doing her job and maintaining the privacy of library patrons. But the mayor called it "a blatant disregard for the Police Department," which needed her help to identify a man who allegedly threatened a child. Reutty, the director for 17 years, now faces possible discipline by the library board. Members of the Borough Council have suggested she receive punishment ranging from a letter of reprimand in her personnel file to a 30-day unpaid...

SACRAMENTO - Two newspapers and a free speech group sued Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to obtain appointment calendars and other records that would show who met with two of his top aides while the governor was considering the fate of hundreds of bills last year. The lawsuit by the California First Amendment Coalition, the San Jose Mercury News and the San Diego Daily Transcript on Monday seeks to force Schwarzenegger to reveal whom from outside the governor's office met with, or spoke to, Patricia Clarey and Bonnie Reiss from Aug. 27 to Sept. 30, 2004. Clarey is Schwarzenegger's chief of staff...

OAKLAND - Alameda County paid nearly 800 government employees more than $100,000 each in the fiscal year that ended in July 2004, according to records released to the Times on Friday. The records released by the office of Alameda County Counsel Richard Winnie mark a significant turnabout in the county's long resistance to making public the salaries of its highest-paid employees. The data shows that 115 employees with the title deputy sheriff made between $100,313 and $184,094 last year and that 74 with the title sergeant were paid between $100,203 and $170,165. The county employs roughly 10,000 workers.County lawyers, under...

Today, the liberal media elite in Ohio (Columbus Disgrace, Cleveland Plain Dealer, and Dayton Daily News) all had their holy art thou attitude on again about open records in government. These media are up on a pedestal trying to portray themselves as some watchdog of government. While I agree on the open records stuff in principle, I QUESTION THE MOTIVES OF THESE NEWSPAPERS. These are the same newspapers that want to publish the names on concealed-carry permit holders in Ohio. I believe the Cleveland Plain Dealer has done so, along with a TV station in Toledo. An individual has a...

Washington's constitution and voter approved public records law clearly indicate that the people must be allowed to have access to information concerning the activities of government: the people do not yield authority to state officials to determine "what is good for the people to know and what is not good for them to know." All political power is inherent in the people, and governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, and are established to protect and maintain individual rights. - Article 1, Section 1 Washington State Constitution The people of this state do not yield their...