Obama Transparency Workshop Closed To The Public
WASHINGTON — A Republican senator who sponsored a law meant to help people with open-records requests says a government workshop on openness sho...
WASHINGTON — A Republican senator who sponsored a law meant to help people with open-records requests says a government workshop on openness sho...
AP | LAURIE KELLMAN | Posted 11.30.2009 | Politics
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama's new standards for government openness have not trickled down to some agencies, where officials have used special statutes slipped into bills to skirt the Freedom of Information Act, open government advocates said Wednesday.
Efforts to strengthen the 42-year-old law "have been hampered by the increasing use of legislative exemptions that are often sneaked into legislation without debate or public scrutiny," Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy said.
News organizations and media groups said new legislation was needed to limit the information agencies may keep secret and for how long.
"The secrecy reflex at some agencies remains firmly in place," said Tom Curley, president and chief executive of The Associated Press. And FOIA still contains relatively weak penalties for those that don't meet their disclosure obligations, he said.
"We appreciate the change in policy direction, but the change hasn't yet reached the street," said Curley, testifying on behalf of the Sunshine in Government Initiative, a coalition of media groups.
Jamie Kalven | Posted 11.09.2009 | Chicago
The city believes its power to impose secrecy should be unlimited and beyond scrutiny, that it should be the sole arbiter of what is and is not public information.
State Journal-Register | Posted 09.17.2009 | Chicago
Gov. Pat Quinn today signed into law a rewrite of the state's open-records law that will allow courts to fine public bodies that violate it "willfully...
Chicago Public Radio | Adriene Hill | Posted 09.17.2009 | Chicago
Illinois has updated its stimulus Websites -- but it's still getting low marks for transparency....
Chicago Tribune | Ray Long | Posted 04.30.2009 | Chicago
SPRINGFIELD -- Gov. Pat Quinn and the top legislative leaders strode down a stairwell and into a Capitol hearing room for a private meeting with the H...
AP | SHARON THEIMER | Posted 12.07.2009 | Politics