jamese- You are incorrect. Whether you will admit it or not, his BC was apparently amended according to the legal reading of a UIPA request I made this time last year. Since then, Janice Okubo at the Department of Health and Linden Joesting, an attorney at the Office of Info. Practices (OIP), confirmed to me that my understanding of their ruling(s) is correct. I was very direct in seeking their confirmation and why, so there’s was absolutely no confusion.
Furthermore, I did make my UIPA request public, and in fact discussed it in ‘real-time’ at Donofrio’s blog while composing it and while I awaited the ruling(s). No one was really writing UIPA requests yet at that time so I was looking to Donofrio for legal guidance. I also knew ahead of time from consulting with the attorneys at the OIP that the department of health was required to inform me if the records I was requesting did not exist.
I requested from Dr. fukino at the Dept. of Health:
• A digital copy of President Obama’s own personal UIPA request to access his Birth Certificate in order to AMEND it.
• A digital copy of the invoice and receipt for that AMENDMENT.
I didn’t ask IF he amended it, I didn’t ask for any verification of facts. I simply requested these extraneous and possibly public records as if I knew for a fact that they existed.
The UIPA states that Dr. Fukino had four options to choose from in answering a UIPA request. According to you, she must have answered mine with the legally required: “There are no records responsive to your request.”
I have, in fact, received that response to several other requests I’ve made.
However, she didn’t answer with that. Instead, she told me that I could not have copies of those records because they are part of Obama’s ‘private vital records’ and therefore they are protected from disclosure per HRS 338-18.
(http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrs2008/Vol06_Ch0321-0344/HRS0338/HRS_0338-0018.htm, Vital Statistics; State Public Health Statistics Act.)
Hmmm..how can a ‘tangible interest’/vital records law possibly prevent disclosure of nothing? Obviously, it can’t.
The agency is legally required under UIPA to inform a requester if they don’t maintain the records requested. Why? SO that a person may APPEAL an agency’s decision to deny disclosure of requested records. In fact, a requester may appeal with the OIP (the agency that oversees the Hawaii open records law) and/or in court.
Think about it, the appeals process is the oversight in place so that agency heads follow the open records law, rather than deny access at whim.
In fact, I did take issue with the ruling and did not believe that such records should be considered private, so I appealed the decision with the OIP.
You cannot appeal a denial of access to ‘thin air.’ That’s why UIPA requires notification if there are no records responsive to a request. (link below) They are even required to tell you if the records exist at another state agency.
On appeal, the ruling attorney at the OIP, Linden Joesting, took the ten days to investigate the very existence of those records and decide whether they should be considered private.
She upheld Dr. Fukino’s decision to withhold copies from me. She also cited HRS 338-18 and said I didn’t have a tangible interest in the records. Evidently, the records I requested did indeed qualify as part of his vital records, in her opinion.
I still disagree with their ruling and would love to file a court appeal if I had the means. In fact, the OIP informed me that was my right. They absolutely would not tell me to go find an attorney to try to get copies of NOTHING from the court.
FACT: Obama amended his BC. It’s just a fact. I have since confirmed my understanding, as I have relayed it to you, with both the DOH and the OIP. They both say my understanding is correct.
Again, I have shared my request publicly. My deepest apologies for not being a reporter, I am only a graphic designer; and have only a bachelor’s degree in fine arts.
However, I have been successfully asking questions and getting answers for 35+ years and English is my first language, if that means anything to you.
http://hawaii.gov/oip/guidancefaqs.html
“What are the possible responses to your request?
1. Full disclosure: All requested information is disclosable.
2. Partial disclosure: The record contains both disclosable and non-disclosable information. Certain information must be segregated before copies of the record are provided.
3. No disclosure: The requested information is not disclosable.
4. Request cannot be filled: the record is not maintained by the agency that received the request;
the requester needs to clarify what information is being sought; or no such records exist.
The UIPA does not apply to the requested record.”
I was hoping that LtC. Terry Lakin’s attorneys would have been granted deposition rights with Dr. Fukino but alas, it looks like that will not happen.
As I’m sure that you are well aware Barack Obama’s birth records can be released under subpoena but unfortunately, no one has attempted that route to date.
Oh for crying out loud Jamese777, why do you think the 70 plus lawsuits were stopped before discovery? Discovery would have allowed the plaintiffs to issue subpoenas for his records. The plaintiff's attempted that route. And don't quote me your one poorly litigated case that also had no discovery, it is next to meaningless to anyone but you.
By the wai go ahead and wait for some “offical” statement, you have already exposed yourself as one who is not interested in the truth. Have you submitted any requests for information? I think YOU CAN’T HANDLE THE TRUTH.
I can’t blame you for not trusting the anonymous person on the internet. But in this case, you are free and welcome to email Okubo, Fukino and Joesting yourself and ask if they denied my request in it’s entirety citing HRS 338-18 as I detailed to you earlier, late last summer.
(chiyome.fukino@doh.hawaii.gov; Janice.S.Okubo@hawaii.gov; oip@hawaii.gov [ATTN: Linden Joesting])
I personally think that Lakin could EASILY show he has a ‘tangible interest’ in obtaining Obama’s BC.
If he has not filed his own UIPA request, citing the chain of command. He should give it a try and file the automatic court appeal if they deny that request. Everyone who gets denied records under UIPA can immediately take it to court where a judge would automatically view Obama’s vital records in camera (behind closed doors.) At the very least, we know for certain that at least one judge will have laid eyes on it. And Lakin will have been in front of a judge that will know if Obama is qualified or not to ask Lakin to deploy.
Sometimes, I think these lawyers are leading their military clients away from trying this free, simple easy path that is at least a guarantee to be heard in courts if denied.
BTW, I once asked the OIP if Orly had ever filed a UIPA request. They said, no.
BDZ—
The military should be requesting his records directly. If you have any way to speak with his attorneys you should pass it on. Better yet, Lakin should just request without even going through his lawyers.
Surely the military at make an excellent case for ‘tangible interest’ when being asked to deploy.
***READ THIS PORTION FROM THE FULL TEXT OF THE PRECEDENT RULING THAT DEFINED HAWAII’S ‘TANGIBLE INTEREST’:
“Those who don’t stand in the relationship to the registrant required by section 338-18(b), Hawaii Revised Statutes, may inspect a particular vital statistic record if the DOH is satisfied that the information is “necessary for the determination of personal or property rights.”
My God, why does it appear that no deploying military have filed a UIPA request?
I have tried to get somebody to require subpoenas. Nobody who has subpoena power will take it up. That’s not something that peons like me can just do on our own. And that is why we are in the mess we’re in. Our law enforcement system is a joke.
We should know that just by watching the DOJ suing Arizona so the feds can be the only people who CAN enforce the laws (but never will) and reporting Arizona to the UN for heaven’s sake.
It’s all part and parcel of the same thing. When there’s a communist coup the first thing they do is seize control of the critical infrastructure - the systems necessary for the maintenance of a free society. One of the top things is law enforcement.
That’s why, when I look at what’s going on, I don’t see anything that conservatives should be crawling away from. I see critical infrastructure being seized while “conservatives” are too embarrassed to scream “rape!” This is no time for embarrassment. This is time for a fortified wall against anybody who would try to take this nation’s infrastructure.