Jumping Through Hoops
“Those of us who manage the public’s dollars will be held to account — to spend wisely, reform bad habits and do our business in the light of day,” he said. “Because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government.”
President Barack Obama
I sit staring at this blank screen today with a heavy heart.
There was a great deal of jubilation yesterday as this country swore in a new president. It was exciting.
Later in the afternoon, I realized that it is still politics as usual in Tennessee and in my home county.
Our local county commission has a resolution on the table that is called Reasonable Charges for copies of Public Records. I knew that it was coming where we would have to offset the costs of paper so I understood that.
What I didn’t know was the fine print. You see, the resolution cites that not only will folks have to pay for public records, they are also asking that citizens do these things:
- File paperwork for “Inspection/Duplication of Records Request” It’s more paperwork than you would think.
- Government offices can deny a records request
- They can charge you for labor charges. Let’s remember we are already paying salaries with tax dollars, but, yep, they can charge you an “hourly” wage.
Don’t believe me? Go here and see it for yourself on the state of Tennessee website.
My chief staff writer contacted Frank Gibson at the Tennessee Coalition of Open Government yesterday afternoon. I called Rep. Mark Maddox and will go meet with local leaders about it this morning.
What does this mean?
Let me break it down for you.
If you don’t have any money, you are basically screwed. The paperwork is ridiculously complicated. And there is a great deal of room for abuse. Tennesseans wanting to get public records are going to have to jump through hoops about it.
I am constantly amazed at every time I think we’ve taken five steps forward, I realize we have moved two steps back instead.
So, what is their reasoning behind enacting such a requirement? I wonder if sometimes we don’t just immediately jump to an obstructionist and sometimes sinister conclusion behind decisions our lawmakers make that we don’t like. I’m not saying it is innocent, but maybe there are some logical reasons behind it. I would want my newspeople and other citizen investigators to research those possibilities before jumping right to the “heavy hearted” and “we’re screwed” conclusions.
That said, I agree with your assessment. I just think we tend to automatically jump to the nefarious machinations before we consider anything else. Maybe that’s just habit based on experience, that more times than not it is nefarious
(I love the word nefarious)
So if it’s your conclusion and common consensus that it’s wrong to charge more than just supply fees and to submit citizens to excessive red tape, are you saying it’s a local matter for your part of the VolState or a state-wide matter? I was confused when you cited the Tennessee code in reference to a county matter.
This can happen in all counties in the state, that’s why I referenced it because this is happening across the state.
Good question. The excessive red tap would be all across the state.
[...] » Jumping Through HoopsPosted 57 minutes [...]
In my quest to build a Disclosure Database for Shelby County candidates, I requested the Disclosures for 4 Candidates, spanning 2006-2008. The “reasonable” price for said request was 25 cents a page. After a week, I was presented with the documents…for $150.
I’m not really complaining about this, because I knew it was going to be a lot of money to do, but I have 72 more candidates to add to the database. at this rate I can expect to spend 2700 dollars to do something that the County should do, and make available, on it’s own.
Still not complaining, but creating barriers to information is one thing, making records requests subject to arbitrary rules at the whim of a governing body that has no accountability to the public is madness.
This has to stop, and it has to be stopped either in Nashville, or the courts.
Have they addressed the possibility of digital records downloads, where they simply copy the requested file(s) onto a blank disk that the requester supplies? If it’s an extensive document, that would reduce or eliminate the paper expense plus the labor (of copying) expense. I think pretty much everybody who’s requesting records would have a computer with basic Office software on it for text documents and spreadsheets, but you could keep the paper requirements for those without computers.
All that is presuming that you’re dealing with a public office/official willing to help and serve the public that funds it/him/her. Somebody who just wants to jerk citizens around (and really may be hiding something) deserves a county lawsuit, and Gibson’s group’s attorney should argue that.
My conflicts with public officials over records requests have been rare but interesting. After I’ve explained to them that I am acting on citizens’ behalf, not simply as “some media person” — and occasionally have brought in the county or city attorney to help them understand — most everybody comes around.
This is a very important story, Coma. It’s (a) really important for bloggers to source their stories, (some bloggers in Nashville don’t) and (b) to understand open records act, and (c) know how to get around the bureaucracy you so eloquently described.
FOIA is another important source for bloggers to understand for Federal info.
It’s a sad day in Tennessee when it’s easier to get records from the Federal Gov. under FOIA(Fredom of Information Act) than it is from our state government under open records.
One suggestion I have to get around the money problem and insanity of open records, is to go to the courthouse and check lawsuits which are public record, which often have emails and IMs and texts attached in the discovery phase of suits. To get a copy is also costly, but it is free to look at it, and that can be an incredible tool for sourcing and getting a lot of info in general.
But the bottom line is still what you wrote. Until open records is truly open to all, it’s just a misleading name to make us think our state government is transparent.
you know my opinion of what’s going on with this one before i even say anything. i’m not in Tennessee, but i have a feeling this is going to become a major problem everywhere. public records are supposed to be just that, public. thing is, the states seem to be either trying to make it completely impossible to get to these records, or put such a high bill on them that it just isn’t WORTH it for the average person. unfortunately, i see this as a first step in trying to seal ALL records. keeping that from happening in the future, i believe, depends on the public’s ability to fight for stopping state actions like this one NOW.
[...] unnecessary red tape or extra fees tacked on to what you already pay for with YOUR tax money. From Newscoma: * File paperwork for “Inspection/Duplication of Records Request” It’s more paperwork than [...]
You were expecting a semblance of sanity? Pfft!
[...] overheard in mine today: EditorBates: The county commission tabled the Reasonable Charges resolution last [...]