Update 3/10/05
Sens. John Cornyn, R-Tx, and Patrick Leahy, D-Vt, filed a second bill today aimed at solving Freedom of Information Act problems. The newest, called the Faster FOIA Act, creates a 16-member “Commission on Freedom of Information Act Processing Delays” that would have one year to study and report to Congress on ways to make the processing of FOIA requests more efficient.
A hearing on their OPEN Government Act will be held Tuesday morning at 10 a.m.
Testifying will be Katherine M. “Missy” Cary, Assistant Attorney General of Texas and Chief, Open Records Division; Walter Mears, former Washington bureau chief and executive editor, Associated Press; Mark Tapscott, Director, Center for Media and Public Policy, The Heritage Foundation; Meredith Fuchs, General Counsel, National Security Archive, George Washington University; and Thomas Susman, an attorney with Ropes & Gray LL who has done FOIA litigation.
Monday, Sen. Leahy is expected to reintroduce the Restore FOIA bill, which deals with the definition of Critical Infrastructure Information and Rep. Henry Waxman, D-CA, is reportedly ready to submit a House version of Restore FOIA by the end of next week.
Meanwhile, the Sunshine in Government Initiative was formally launched this morning with the American Society of Newspaper Editors, The Associated Press, Coalition of Journalists for Open Government, National Newspaper Association, Newspaper Association of America, Radio-Television News Directors Association, Society of Professional Journalists, and The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press as founding members. And we’ve begun a series of visits to key staffers in the Senate and House to talk about our support for the OPEN Government bill.
There’s a separate effort underway to build support for the shield law proposals. We’re looking for examples of stories, developed through the use of confidential sources, that provided the public with important oversight information about government that would not have been possible otherwise. Let me know if you have a suggestion or suggestions for the list. And you might enjoy this quote from one of the sponsors of the Free Flow of Information Act, Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind. “The only check on government power in real time is a free press."
If you want to see some good examples stories from use of public records and of FOIA, go to the SEJ http://www.sej.org/foia/index7.htm website and to the Knight Ridder page: http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/news/special_packages/veterans/
Pete Weitzel
