Two-steppin' Blue-footed Boobie!

John Sill - freelance artist and bird illustrator

From the Journal & Topics online, we read an unattributed article titled "Committee To Review Caudill Agreement." What caught the PRU Crews attention were a few lines in the piece indicating what can only be described as a lack of transparency and cooperation on the part of city government; specifically, acting City Manager, Julianna Maller. The article states:

1) "The revised agreement was not provided to the media."

2) "The Journal & Topics Newspapers was told to file a Freedom of Information Act request for access."

3) "Maller would not speak to a Journal & Topics Newspapers reporter regarding the issue; choosing to respond only to written questions."

4) "...but she did not indicate if that was at Caudill's original rate of pay or at the increased rate."

5) "She also did not answer a question asking if the three additional months of settlement would be adjusted to reflect only the first 4% increase."

The Illinois Attorney General's website says, “…it is declared to be the public policy of the State of Illinois that all persons are entitled to full and complete information regarding the affairs of government […] Such access is necessary to enable the people to fulfill their duties of discussing public issues fully and freely, making informed political judgments and monitoring government to ensure that it is being conducted in the public interest.” (5 ILCS 140/1)".

And, the Illinois Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) "...is intended to open the government to all citizens by guaranteeing access to governmental records in whatever form they are maintained. The Act maintains a clear preference for access to public documents while still protecting legitimate governmental interests and the privacy rights of individual citizens."

Before PRU readers jump to any conclusions about their right to access public information -- a task the press often undertakes on the public's behalf -- the PRU Crew feels the need to translate the above into what government officials understand the FOIA to mean; that is, "As government officials, we can delay and deter access to information by requiring anyone seeking information to jump through hoops."

So while you may think that FOIA is for the purpose of ensuring that "access is necessary to enable the people to fulfill their duties of discussing public issues fully and freely, making informed political judgments and monitoring government to ensure that it is being conducted in the public interest”, what you really should understand is that, before completing your duties as citizens in an open and free democracy, government officials will expect nothing less than an Olga Korbut performance on paper from you.

And, even when government officials snootily demand that all questions must be submitted in writing, you shouldn't expect those written questions to be answered either.