Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas

Admitting that “It’s a sad, sad world where we have to do this… and it leads to less transparency,” state District Judge Scott Jenkins of Austin ruled “the Texas Department of Public Safety does not have to release travel records of Governor Rick Perry’s security staff.” According to the Courthouse News Service, the Governor’s “Travel Security Records Remain Secret in Texas.” The Austin American-Statesman, Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express-News had gone to court in an effort to have security detail travel vouchers released in the public interest. In 2008, Judge Jenkins issued a ruling in the newspapers’ favor saying they were subject to disclosure under the Texas Public Information Act.  In this latest ruling, however, the Judge reversed his earlier decision.

This year, the National Freedom of Information Coalition’s 2012 summit is being held in Madison, Wisconsin.  It’s a national forum to discuss freedom of information, transparency and open government concerns.  Coincidentally, it’s taking place in the shadow of Wisconsin’ state’s capitol where there’s been recent focus of several attention grabbing issues involving transparency and open government.  According to the Wisconsin State Journal, “…Republican lawmakers pledged not to discuss secretly drawn legislative district maps. A divided Wisconsin Supreme Court upheld the Legislature’s exemption from its own open meetings law. Milwaukee police arrested two photojournalists on assignment. The request for a UW-Madison professor’s emails sparked a national debate.”  Sound familiar?

In the increasingly competitive arena of economic development and job creation some municipalities are getting downright creative.  Take for example the Corpus Christi Business and Jobs Development Corporation.  Recently, they held a public meeting and announced through their agenda that they were going to meet behind closed doors, in executive session, to discuss “Project Chika.”  Really?  What does that mean?  Do you have any idea?  Probably not.  Unless perhaps you speak Japanese and then you might understand the board would be discussing a project related to “the price of land.”  However, in Texas citizens are not required to speak or even understand Japanese.  Nor are they required to jump through any special hoops to try and figure out what governmental officials are up to – allegedly on their behalf.  Instead, the Texas Open Meetings law requires governmental bodies to post items of interest on their public meeting agenda’s “…to apprise the general public of the subjects to be considered during the meeting.” In this case, however, there is nothing to provide the public with as much of a hint that the item to be discussed was a “tax break for a new water park, Schlitterbahn.” “It’s deliberately meant to throw people off the tracks,” transparency lawyer Joe Larsen told the Corpus Christi Caller-Times. “It’s something the public has a high interest in so it should have a specific agenda item.”  Lawyers for the Corpus Christi Business and Jobs Development board disagree.  Any member of the public could challenge in court whether this issue was handled and discussed appropriately which could endanger the entire $117 million incentive package using taxpayers money.

You might call it a sign of the times:  routine complaints about the Transportation Security Agency or TSA. These days it’s certainly not uncommon to hear about everything from intrusive full-body pat downs to insensitive and sometimes embarrassing demands reportedly made in the name of protecting homeland security.  TSA officials insist they’re simply doing their job in a post-911 world. But apparently the federal agency does not like to be looked at quite as closely.  When ProPublica reporter Michael Grabell filed a freedom of information request to see just what airline passengers were complaining about back in 2008 he said he expected he might have to wait for the information.  But not for four years to look at 87-pages of public information.

Session after legislative session, the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas and its supporters urge the Texas Legislature to pass stronger, standardized records retention laws that better protect the public’s right to know. There’s plenty of evidence why this is needed.  During the upcoming 83rd legislative session we’ll be at it once again – and the following article by the Dallas Morning-News underscores why:

Dallas police defend email retention policy

By SCOTT GOLDSTEIN
Staff Writer
sgoldstein@dallasnews.com

Published: 25 April 2012 11:37 PM

A Dallas police practice that gives employees discretion to destroy emails permanently has come under scrutiny from open-government advocates.

The leader of the National Freedom of Information Coalition said the department’s decision to scrub some emails unilaterally fails the “common sense smell test.” Ken Bunting, its executive director, also questioned whether the quick deletion of certain messages violates Texas statutes on retaining official records.

Police Chief David Brown and a city attorney dispute that, saying the email removals are being handled properly.

Under the city and police retention policies, “they make the determination of whether there’s anything that needs to be retained for operational planning purposes,” said Assistant City Attorney Warren Ernst. “If not, they’re instructed to delete.”

Police officials said it’s also caused by the lack of electronic storage space, and not an effort to hide information.

At issue is whether deleting emails undermines the public’s ability to evaluate the department, such as the integrity of its investigations, its leaders’ effectiveness, and how the city’s largest department spends about $400 million in taxpayer money each year.

“If governmental bodies don’t comply with the record retention laws, then they gut the Public Information Act. … You can’t get access to records that no longer exist,” said Bill Aleshire, an Austin lawyer focusing on open-government practices.

Texas requires certain government records, including electronic messages, be retained, sometimes for “as long as administratively valuable” up to permanently. Violations could result in misdemeanor or felony offenses.

Media organizations, including The Dallas Morning News, routinely ask for emails under the Public Information Act that gives the public access to such documents. But in a recent request, the Police Department said certain messages didn’t exist on the day a firefighter was arrested.

The newspaper’s attorney, Paul Watler, in a letter this week to Dallas City Attorney Tom Perkins, cited potential violations because of “DPD’s improper and noncompliant records retention practices.”  (see full article)

Mark Twain is quoted as saying, “It is better to deserve honors and not have them than to have them and not deserve them”  Obviously he wasn’t talking about outspoken tell-it-like-it-is open government champion Hadassah Schloss.

Schloss not only deserves awards for  her many contributions to transparency and open government – she also has many of them.

Recently the Cost Rules Administrator for the Open Records Division of the Office of the Attorney General of Texas picked up another worthy recognition, receiving the the First Amendment Freedom Fighter Award from The Baylor Lariat newspaper at Baylor University.  It is an honor several Freedom of Information board members say is well deserved.

“Hadassah has been a pillar in the fight for Open Government in Texas,” said Austin attorney Laura Prather. “Her work as the Costs Administrator has provided equitable solutions for requestors and governmental agencies alike.  She is tremendously deserving of this award.” University of Texas Associate Journalism Professor Wanda Cash agrees. “Hadassah has been the First Amendment’s fiercest protector, not just for open government advocates like the FOIFT, but for all the people of Texas who have a right to know what their government is up to.”

Houston attorney Joe Larsen recently returned from an East Texas open government seminar where he and Hadassah both helped train dozens of city and county officials on how to comply with Texas’ public information and open meetings laws. “Hadassah, who was born in Argentina, once told me that “democracy is not the right to vote, democracy is the right to confront your government,”  Larsen said.  “She has been a fierce warrior for open government over many years.”

As FOIFT’s Executive Director I couldn’t agree more.  Congratulations Hadassah for helping make Texas a little better and for allowing us all to call you our friend.  Keep up the great work!

The Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas awarded Hadassah Schloss with its 1996 James Madison Award in recognition of her work defending the public’s right to know and protecting freedom of information.

When you request “public information” from a governmental entity, such as a school district, in most cases that information should be provided to you “in a timely manner.”  There are some legal exemptions, however, that allow the government to withhold the information if it’s confidential by law. And, if the governmental entity still feels it should remain confidential they can appeal to the attorney general’s office. That should be the end of the dispute.  That is, unless you are trying to obtain information from the El Paso Independent School District – which they don’t want the public to see!

Just ask the El Paso Times newspaper.  They’ve been trying to obtain public information correspondence between the El Paso ISD and the U.S. Department of Education involving a federal school audit for months. The school district appealed to the attorney general to keep the information confidential but the AG ordered that it be released.  By law, that means the school district should hand over the information and prevents them from making a second request regarding the same information.

But that hasn’t stopped attorneys for El Paso ISD from trying.  You might call their latest effort the “typo defense.” It involves the word “between” which was mistakenly spelled “bewteen,” and something two attorneys involved with the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas believe is an attempt by the district to get around the AG’s previous ruling. Attorney Charles Daughtry told the newspaper he hopes “the AG will find that laughable,” and added, “I’m hoping they get mad about it.  They ought to.”

The Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas and the Office of the Attorney General of Texas will hold the second of five 2012 Open Government seminars around the state, in Nacogdoches. The seminar will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Friday, April 13, in the Nacogdoches County Extension Office, 203 West Main Street in Nacogdoches.

In the words of James Madison, “Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and a people who mean to be their own governors, must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.”  It is a value of one of our nation’s forefathers which drives the mission of the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas, to “educate and support citizens, government officials and media professionals who seek to enhance and protect the free flow of information in Texas.”  It was also part of the character of Waco businessman and philanthropist Bernard Rapoport (1917-2012) – even though he didn’t always agree with the open records law, known as the Texas Public Information Act.

Fifteen years ago, last month, FOIFT recognized Bernard and Audre Rapoport by awarding them our first John Henry Faulk Award for Civic Virtue.  The award was “named for a man who studied and fought for the freedoms provided by the First Amendment after his own freedom of speech was challenged.”  The Rapoports were also honored by FOIFT “naming its annual conference for them.”  A news release at the time stated, “It often requires great courage to take stands in defense of the rights embodied in the First Amendment.”  It went on to explain, ” The Bernard and Audre Rapoport Freedom of Information Conference will provide a forum that affirms and gives support to those who deeply believe n these rights.”

This year’s conference will be held in Austin on August 10 – once again in the Rapoports honor.

If this involved a sporting event today’s legal ruling might be considered the 1st Quarter with the public clearly winning.  However, a Bexar County Commissioner’s legal challenge of Texas’ Public Information law appears far from over – and, this is anything but a game.  Commissioner Tommy Adkisson is apparently vowing to go the distance, all the way to the Texas Supreme Court if he has to, to try and get a legal ruling that he says he believes is needed to “clarify the law.”  That law requires public officials to conduct public business in the public. Commissioner Adkisson, however, disagrees arguing his personal email accounts should be off-limits.