Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas

jacob.mayer@amarillo.com

Freedom of information experts are scheduled to visit Amarillo on Friday for an open government seminar designed for elected public officials and anyone who wants to learn about changes to open records laws.

Members of the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas and Office of the Attorney General will present information about the Texas Public Information Act and the Texas Open Meetings Act at the Amarillo College Business and Industry Center.

“This is to hit basically all of the high points of what the two laws require so that elected officials and their staff know what they must do to comply, and members of the public know what their rights are when they try to get information or attend a public meeting,” said Keith Elkins, executive director of the foundation. (More)

That’s right.  The travel expense bills for Governor Rick Perry’s presidential campaign security detail are slowly coming in and so far add up to at least $800,000.  These are expenses Texas taxpayers will end up paying, not the Governor or his campaign funds.  Why?  In a statement to the Austin American-Statesman Perry spokeswoman Lucy Nashed said, “Gov. Perry is governor no matter where he goes, and the Department of Public Safety has a policy of providing security for governors and their families everywhere they travel, as they have back several administrations. These policies are determined by DPS and not the governor’s office.”  This article also points out that a DPS statement predicts the price tag could go even higher “as more unpaid invoices from vendors  and reimbursement claims from troopers get settled.”

The latest news reports out of South Carolina say it’s official: Texas Governor Rick Perry is calling it quits.  Bidding “adios” to his failed campaign for President and returning home to Texas. As a result, the estimated $400,000 monthly tab Texas taxpayers have shouldered for extra security expenses to protect the Governor and first family on the campaign trail should return to more normal levels soon. Don’t hold your breath, however, expecting to learn just how much has been spent so far. At the Governor’s urging lawmakers blocked that for at least 18 months.

Chances are you don’t even realize it but paper shredders in state and local government offices are hard at work.  Computer delete keys are also being utilized much more frequently to permanently get rid of documents, emails and other remnants of what might be considered a modern day paper-trail of official public business.

No, it’s not a return to the past era of clandestine records destruction known as Watergate, its just normal business practices these days in the State of Texas.

That’s according to rules adopted or proposed by the Texas State Library and Archives Commission shortening the required records retention schedules from five years to three years for state policy/program correspondence and three years to only one year for routine/operational correspondence.  The agency adopted similar changes for Local Government correspondence in April of last year.

No formal explanation has been given as to why but the agency is frequently asked to reduce retention schedules because of “cost factors” and “dwindling budgets.”  And yes, there is a cost associated with preserving and archiving what actions governmental entities engage in at taxpayers’ expense.  However, we also believe there is just as great a value, if not greater, in preserving the details of daily government that transpires behind the open curtain of public scrutiny.

Without these documents you and I really only get to see part of the picture.  The edited portion elected or appointed officials want us to see.

At the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas we don’t believe that’s good enough.  We don’t consider a one-year and three-year records retention schedule enough time to effectively provide members of the public, news media, researchers or government historians with adequately time to examine controversial or costly projects in hopes of understanding what really happened, or even who might have benefited as a result.

That’s why FOIFT and Austin attorney Bill Aleshire are asking the State Library and Archives to consider extending the length of time records are kept.  To better protect Texas taxpayers. We’d like to see Texas go back to the records retention schedule in place in 2009 but a compromise might be the best we can hope for.

The library board has agreed and asked their staff to bring back a new proposal which may split the different between the past and present:  requiring two years for local and state routine/operational correspondence and four years for state and local policy/program correspondence.  It’s a much better policy over what we currently have.

April 6 is the deadline for Monson Award nominations. Sponsored by the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas and Texas Press Association, the Monson FOI Award recognizes journalists and/or newspapers for outstanding efforts that uphold First Amendment principles, increase public access to government, and improve awareness of state open government statutes.

The award is named in honor of former FOIFT’s executive director, Ms. Nancy Monson, who retired in 2001 after nearly two decades of service. FOIFT is one of the leading education and advocacy non-profit organizations in the country working for open government and access to public information for more than 30 years.

Monson award nominations can be for a single news story or series, an editorial or series of editorials, columns, editorial cartoons or a community FOI project published in calendar year 2011. Nominations should include the following:

• person or organization being nominated,
• category entered,
• a background letter explaining the effort being cited,
• article/pages being entered along with any clippings,
• and letters or additional support documents.

There are two award categories: Daily newspapers and Non-Daily newspapers. All nominations and support material should be sent to:

Monson FOI Award / FOIFT

3001 Lamar Blvd. Suite 302

Austin, Texas 78705

Entries must be postmarked by April 6, 2012. Winners will be announced at the Texas Press Association Summer Convention, June 21-23, 2012, at the Westin Riverwalk, San Antonio. For more information contact FOIFT at 512-377-1575.

What’s worse than conducting public business in secret, or in the dark, preventing taxpayers from seeing for themselves what’s going on and how certain policies might affect them or their children?  How about conducting “sham public meetings?” That’s what members of the Austin Independent School District are being accused of after approving what’s being called “a half-baked charter (school) proposal” with a Rio Grande Valley charter school operator to run two East Austin campuses.  In growing numbers taxpayers are growing tired of steam-roller tactics and a take-it-or leave it approach to governing.  It remains to be seen if that will be demonstrated at the voting booth by these taxpayers who reportedly feel ignored and deceived, and who are telling AISD “this is not democracy.”

In an era when more and more people are becoming distrustful of government and voicing frustration over paying higher taxes, occasionally an elected official engages in out-of-the box thinking and truly provides applaudable customer service.  Such is the case in Bexar County, San Antonio, Texas, with District Clerk Donna Kay McKinney.  McKinney is voluntarily putting public service above additional income by allowing public access to criminal history records – online!  Why is the world is she doing something so progressive?  Because she says, the “benefits of providing everyone access far outweigh(s) income.”  In other words satisfied customers (taxpayers) are more important than a “few thousand dollars” the county was making selling the public information.  Consider it a victory for taxpayers whose tax dollars fund McKinney’s salary and the operations of her office. So, if your county clerk isn’t providing the same public service perhaps you should ask them, “Why Not?”

With the 2012 presidential election nearly a year away you might not be paying too close attention to what’s happening on the campaign trail – but perhaps you should be.  Why?  Because it’s costing you big bucks and you may, or may not, feel like you’re getting your money’s worth.  Four-Hundred thousand dollars a month!  That’s what it’s costing on average to protect Governor Rick Perry as he campaigns across America to become the next president of the United States.  Money  you and I are prohibited from knowing exactly what it’s paying for in a campaign some argue is not leaving a favorable impression of Texas.

Taxpayers beware!  The next time a politician supports legislation to limit your right to access to public records claiming that transparency simply costs too much – be sure they’re not confusing it with costs associated with hiding information from the public.  Take for example Mitt Romney whose staff reportedly spent $100,000 to hide his records before launching his bid for the White House.

The political campaign between Ted Cruz and Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst to replace retiring United States Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison may be heating up, but that’s not what this post is about.  In fact, as a non-political organization we don’t care.  Instead, this is a matter of preserving the public record involving the second highest ranking state official in Texas – for Texas taxpayers.  Especially these days as Dewhurst readily told the Austin American-Statesman, “…Every week now for six weeks in a row, and maybe for another 13, 14 or 15 months, I’m the acting governor.”  The problem, however, is that the Lt.  Governor, or Acting-Governor’s official work schedule has reportedly been maintained by his political campaign staff and has not been made public, upon request.  And, even though Dewhurst’s campaign spokesman David Beckwith explains, “We’re doing it because we want the public to know how hard he’s been working” – that’s not the only reason to do it.  It is also a matter of it being an official state record that should be maintained at an arms length distance from the campaign and subject to release under the Texas Public Information Act.  That’s the law.  But then, I’m sure as Acting-Governor Dewhurst already knows that.  Doesn’t he?