FOIFT State Conference

Last Friday, we attended the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas "FOIFT" annual State Conference. Discussions focused on:

• Public records on the Internet
• Privacy issues and public records
• Legislative issues concering public records and open meetings
• Steps to obtain access to public records
• Privatization of public records

The stated purpose of the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas is to encourage, sponsor and facilitate a greater appreciation, knowledge and understanding of the First Amendment. Working to ensure that the public's business is conducted in public, the FOIFT has successfully helped citizens access open meetings and documents that should be a matter of public record.

The keynote speaker, U.S. Senator John Cornyn, spoke of his efforts to implement at a national level some of the things he advanced as the former Attorney General in Texas. Senator Cornyn said there is a culture in Washington that believes information is power and the release of information may constitute a loss of power.

The Senator said whether it is a Republican or Democratic administration it is important to err on the side of openess. Sometimes labels such as, "Secret"or "Sensitive" are used to keep embarrassing or unflattering information from citizens improperly. He emphasized, in these times, it it important to protect certain information from our enemies but he acknowledged there are abuses in the name of national security which sometimes takes place.

Sen. Cornyn said his is working closely with fellow Juduciary Committee member Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy to streamline access to public records.

The first working session of the day was titled, "Public Records and the Internet: Oil and Water?" panelists included Cynthia Figueroa-Calhoun, County Clerk of Dallas County and Dianne Wilson, Ph.D., County Clerk of Fort Bend County. Also on the panel were Hadassah Schloss, Cost Rules Administrator, Office of the Attorney General of Texas and Gary Chapman, Director of the 21st Century Project, University of Texas at Austin.

The County Clerks spoke of the benefits consumers and businesses enjoy because of access to public records. Ms. Calhoun said access to public records has streamlined commerce, helped speed real estate transactions and has been a tremendouse benefit to attorneys and others using online public records in Dallas County.

The County Clerks expressed concerns that some privacy advocates, which Gary Chapman spoke in favor, might convince the legistlature and other governmental bodies to prohibit public records from being made available online and in doing so might have a negetive impact on commerce and the citizens ability to access inforamation when they need it.

Another issue the Clerk's discussed is "redaction" or the editing or revising a documents to black out Social Security Numbers or other information. The question remained, should Clerks redact records which makes it harder (but perhaps not impossible) to access; and, will the next step be for other parts of documents be redacted such as addresses and signatures?

The Clerks in attendence are generally advocates of open records but there was a realization that because there are 254 counties in Texas that means 254 opinions. Hadassah Schloss whose job is to help enforce the Open Records Act for the AG's office indicated it is a challenge to educate all public officials and their vendors of the laws regulating public records but progress is being made in that regard.

Following this session, the luncheon guest speaker was Attorney General, Greg Abbott. General Abbott spoke about the efforts his office has made to keep records and meetings open to the public. General Abbott spoke specifically of lawsuits his office have untaken and currently pursuing.

As someone who has worked closely the staff of the Attorneys General office, I can state without hesitation that Greg Abbott's office has been consistant and diligent in their efforts to educate and encourage county officials to follow the Open Records Act. The AG's office is committed to pursuing all legal remedies to make sure that's done. General Abbott confirmed in his remarks that his office will take all steps neccessary to make records available to the public.

During the luncheon in a questions to General Abbott I pointed out that the problem many of us face is the "Privatization of Public Records" and asked, "What can we do to stop the delay by governmental officials who use the excuse that the records are with the Vendor and they do not have the technical ability to provide the records?"

General Abbott indicated this type of activity will not be tolerated by his office and suggested that we may need to do something legistlatively to make these Clerks and vendors more responsive.

The first afternoon session, "Legislative Issues: The Public's Agenda" addressed specifically what the Legislature can do to promote more openess in government. Much of the discussion focused on the practice of "voice votes" in the Texas House of Representatives in which lawmakers are not accountable for their votes because they are not recorded.

The final session titled "Friends on the Frontline" included a historian, Dr. Don Carleton, a librarian, Cathy Hartman, an attorney, Joe Larson and Greg Simpson, Chief of Open Records Division of the Attorney Generals' office.

Dr. Carleton was concerned about the indifference or complacency on the part of the public in standing up for their rights and being more involved in Public Record and Open Record issues. He said that sometimes because things are in digital format the originals are discarded which may make it difficult as a historian to reconstruct the past particularly because electronic data can be altered if not properly preserved.

Ms. Hartman spoke of the the concerns she has when federal government officials inquire through National Security "demand letters" to know what books are being read by who. She questioned whether or not it is right for the government to know what we read and how easily a librarian should release this kind of information.

Joe Larsen with Ogden, Gibson, Broocks & Longoria, LLP was asked what makes him the maddest about what he sees in his practice dealing with open records and apparently he had a long list but high on the list was the privitization of records when public officical hire outside contractors.

Mr. Simpson, again voiced his and the AG offices' willingness to prosecute violations of the Open Records Act in Texas.

Most of the members of the FOIFT are jounalists so there was a fair amount of discussion about the most recent attempts by the federal government to limit freedoms of the press.

The 2006 James Madison Awards recipents were Craig Flournoy, Dan Malone and Gail Reeves.

A good day was had by all those attending. It is refreshing to know that there are people working every day to keep our government as tranparent as possible.

If you are interested Open Records or the want to have a voice in the issues the Freedom of Information Foundations covers then you can make a Donation or become a Member at whatever level you feel is appropriate.