I received a copy of a FOIA request from the News-Gazette to a local government official. My guess is that the News-Gazette is fishing for some technical violations of the Freedom of Information Act. For example, here is one part of the Freedom of Information Act
(5 ILCS 140/4) (from Ch. 116, par. 204)
Sec. 4. Each public body shall prominently display at each of its administrative or regional offices, make available for inspection and copying, and send through the mail if requested, each of the following:
(a) A brief description of itself, which will include, but not be limited to, a short summary of its purpose, a block diagram giving its functional subdivisions, the total amount of its operating budget, the number and location of all of its separate offices, the approximate number of full and part‑time employees, and the identification and membership of any board, commission, committee, or council which operates in an advisory capacity relative to the operation of the public body, or which exercises control over its policies or procedures, or to which the public body is required to report and be answerable for its operations; and
(b) A brief description of the methods whereby the public may request information and public records, a directory designating by titles and addresses those employees to whom requests for public records should be directed, and any fees allowable under Section 6 of this Act.
It's hard to imagine that some small town library board is going to have "a block diagram giving its functional subdivisions," However, the law is the law, and I hope that the various officials out there are doing their best to comply with this request.
About five years ago I received this same sort of request via an intern from the News-Gazette. I responded to the intern who failed to pass my response on to her superiors. I ended up on the front page of the paper under the headline "Not So Open Records". Within the body of the article, it was clear I wasn't in violation of the law. But the headline wasn't too much fun.
FOIA violators can take solace though. Probably the most egregious violations of FOIA in recent years have come from Steve Beckett, Julia Rietz, and Barb Wysocki. Each of them was subsequently endorsed by the News-Gazette editorial board.
Pretty much the story will be: too many levels of local government, someone didn't have the records in order, illustration of why there is too many boards, etc.
And my question - Why should the News-gazette not have to pay the normal per copy fee like the rest of the public?
News-Gazette doesn't have to pay the fee like the rest of the public because the law is written such to really emphasize that press should get a free ride (as well as those requesting records in the "public interest").
--
j
Part-Time Pundit