By: Diane Benjamin
It’s national Sunshine Week!
“Sunlight is the best disinfectant.” U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis – on the benefits of openness and transparency.
The premise behind FOIA is that the public has a right to know what the government is doing.
Who said that? The Illinois Attorney General: http://foia.ilattorneygeneral.net/pdf/2015_PAC_Annual_Report.pdf Page 11.
Nonsense Joni? Would Aaron Schock be under Federal investigation if the PRESS hadn’t investigated? Would he have resigned? Is that nonsense too?
Tari Renner’s foul mouth rant posted on my site had nothing to do our relationship. Tari doesn’t like investigative reporting Joni – obviously you don’t either! Tari claims to be transparent, but only where HE WANTS to be transparent. Details: http://blnnews.com/2015/02/11/tari-attacks-me-again-not-in-our-town/
Tonight the Council will be asked to approve the bills and payroll. It’s now 9:45 am. Details have yet to be posted: http://www.cityblm.org/index.aspx?page=242&parent=7718
The totals are posted: http://www.cityblm.org/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=8394
Obviously the City isn’t still gathering information.
What are they hiding?
Would it have something to do with almost $115,000 on P-Card spending?
Maybe more massive payments to outside legal? Shipping boatloads of money out of Bloomington is working great for tax receipts! Maybe bringing in public housing will compensate. Sure.
Ward 5:
April 7th dump Painter for a representative who isn’t working for Renner: Lupe Diaz.
I agree, Diane. FOIA is an important tool for transparency. However, there is a cost to pull FOIA requests, which is usually deemed a normal operating cost for a government entity. There is the possibility that fixed costs can be passed to the FOIA requester, but most don’t charge fees because it can look bad, politically speaking. At first, it appears the cost factor is what Painter is addressing in her e-mail inquiry. However, Painter’s “nonsense” comment is what is concerning here. While it’s obvious Diane and the council (at least most of them) don’t get along, it’s unbecoming of an elected official to be disrespectful, even if it’s in an internal e-mail. Painter could have made the inquiry without the last personal snarky remark. And, it’s this remark that shows Painter’s motive is more about personalities and not about costs to the city to prepare FOIA requests for Diane.
And to answer Painter’s e-mail question, Diane has made 68+/- individual FOIA requests via 36 FOIA submissions in 2014.
Can the public body charge for copies?
Yes, but the fees are limited. For black and white, letter or legal sized copies (8 ½ x 11 or 8 ½ x 14), the
first 50 pages are free, and any additional pages can cost no more than 15 cents a page. For color copies
or abnormal sized copies, the public body can charge the actual cost of copying. http://foia.ilattorneygeneral.net/pdf/2015_PAC_Annual_Report.pdf
Correct. But most never charge — because they don’t want to appear to be against providing the public with their own documents.
The bigger question is why isn’t this information available WITHOUT a FOIA?
It normally is.
Anyone can ask for information and the city can provide it without a FOIA. Most of the time, you can just go in or send them an e-mail, and you’ll get what you requested. FOIA is simply the first “legal” step in obtaining information and is not required to obtain information, or for the city to provide information.
Clearly the alderman Painter has an agenda against our reporter Diane who does the digging for the rest of us concerned citizens. Politicians will get away with what you let them get away with. Diane is one of our only defenses against these pols taxing and spending us to death. What does Joni P have to hide that she needs to question the number of FOI requests?