FOIFT STATE CONFERENCE FAST APPROACHING
Openness and Accountability: Celebrating 30 Years of
Open Government, the Freedom of Information Foundation
of Texas’ 2003 Bernard and Audre Rapoport FOI State
Conference, will be held Friday and Saturday, Sept. 5-6,
at the InterContinental Stephen F. Austin Hotel in Austin,
Texas.
Who’s the Client?: Holding Public Officials Accountable
to FOI Laws, Friday’s opening panel, will feature
Former Sen. Don Adams; Gregg Cox, head of the Public Integrity
Unit for the Travis County DA’s Office; Marcus Norris,
Amarillo city attorney; and Leon Smith, mayor, Clifton,
Texas and publisher, The Clifton Record. Cathy Martindale,
editor, Morris Communications Company, will moderate the
panel discussion on ethics and access to public information.
Evolution of Open Government: Pros and Cons of Association
Membership will examine government’s relationship
with governmental associations. Fred Zipp, Managing Editor,
Austin American-Statesman, will moderate the session. Panelists
will include Gary Boren, Lubbock city councilman; Jennifer
Johnson, attorney, Graves, Dougherty, Hearon & Moody,
P.C.; Karen Randolph, staff attorney, Texas Association
of School Boards; and Frank Sturzl, executive director,
Texas Municipal League.
Progress and Regress: Legislative Update on FOI in Texas
will be Friday’s concluding panel. Ann Arnold, executive
director, Texas Association of Broadcasters and Donnis Baggett,
FOI committee chair, Texas Daily Newspaper Association,
will examine the 2003 legislative session. Wanda Garner
Cash, editor and publisher, The Baytown Sun, will moderate.
Schedule providing, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst has been invited
to join in the discussion.
Friday's activities also include the John Henry Faulk
Awards Luncheon featuring the James Madison Awards.
This year’s recipients are Katherine (Missy) Minter
Cary, assistant attorney general, chief of the Open Records
Division, Office of the Attorney General, and Vanessa E.
Curry, journalism lecturer and Patriot advisor, The University
of Texas at Tyler. Both women are being honored for their
contribution to the preservation of the First Amendment
and open government.
Saturday's Responsible Rights: Government in the Sunshine,
moderated by Tom Williams, attorney, Haynes and Boone, L.L.P.
will include, Cary; Hadassah Schloss, open records administrator,
Texas Building and Procurement Commission; and Joel White,
attorney, Ogden, Gibson, White, Broocks & Longoria,
L.L.P. This seminar offers attendees the opportunity to
deepen their understanding of the rights and responsibilities
of open government as dictated by the Texas Public Information
and Texas Open Meeting Acts.
Attorney General Greg Abbott will speak on current
public information topics and entertain questions from the
audience at Saturday’s luncheon, which concludes the
conference activities.
The three registration packages, with early registrations
made before August 15, are as follows: Package #1,
$150, includes all conference events, Sept. 5 and 6; Package
#2, $100, includes all panels on Sept. 5 and the awards
luncheon; and Package #3, $60, includes the open
government seminar and lunch with General Abbott on Sept.
6. Prices after August 15 will be $180 for Package #1,
$125 for Package # 2, and $75 for Package #3. Students
may audit the conference for free, but the cost of meals
will be assessed. To register, call the FOIFT office at
(214) 977-6658 or visit our web site, www.foift.org.
Hotel accommodations can be made by contacting the InterContinental
Stephen F. Austin Hotel at (512) 457-8800 or toll free at
(800) 327-0200. Ask for the FOIFT group rate of $109 for
the conference. Availability and rate are subject to change
after August 12.
The Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas is a nonprofit
501(c)(3) organization supported through grants from private
citizens, corporations, foundations and tax deductible donations.
For more information, call (214) 977-6658, or visit our
web site, www.foift.org.
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