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09/29/2014

The Seattle Times: Editorial: Commercial photography rule makes the Forest Service look bad

Read the full story: The Seattle Times

The government watchdog group Cause of Action is suing a dozen federal agencies for allegedly allowing the White House to conduct politically tinged screenings of public-records requests. Just last week, it was revealed that the White House even seeks to censor the mundane daily “pool” reports, which are the equivalent of an Obama’s official Fitbit log of public activities.

 

No wonder an obscure proposed federal rule started a First Amendment wildfire, especially in the Pacific Northwest, where the government plays a large role due to the amount of federal land here.

 

The Forest Service is still taking public comment on it. Let ’em have it. The Obama administration, rightly called the greatest threat to press freedom in a generation, deserves it.

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09/29/2014

Coalition of Open Government Groups Confront President Obama On Policy that Frustrates Transparency

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                            CONTACT:      

September 29, 2014                                            Mary Beth Hutchins, 202-400-2721

Coalition of Open Government Groups Confront President Obama

On Policy that Frustrates Transparency

25 Groups Ask President to Withdraw or Clarify Memorandum Instructing Agencies to Consult with White House on Document Releases

WASHINGTON – A coalition of 25 transparency groups and open government advocates sent a letter to President Obama today urging him to either “withdraw” or “provide guidance to agencies” on a 2009 White House Counsel memorandum that instructs all federal agencies to consult with White House attorneys on documents of interest to the Administration before releasing them.

Sent by then-White House Counsel Gregory Craig, the memorandum requires federal agencies to consult with the White House Counsel’s Office on any document request that may involve records implicating “White House equities.” An undefined term that allows the White House to affect agency decision-making over the release of documents, “White House equities” appears to refer to any interest the administration might have in agency records. “White House equities” consultation already delayed the release, and allowed for improper Executive branch review, of documents to numerous requesters, including members of the media, Congress, and the public.

Executive Director Dan Epstein of Cause of Action, a government oversight organization, which recently sued a dozen cabinet agencies for documents regarding “White House equities,” said:

Public promises of transparency are no excuse for secret memos that prevent it. Americans deserve a government that is fair and open and delaying the release of documents prevents the ability of a free press to educate the public. Our hope is that President Obama honors the laws in place designed to provide transparency, such as the Freedom of Information Act, and withdraws this 2009 memo.

Executive Director of OpenTheGovernment.org Dr. Patrice McDermott said:

To put it simply, ‘White House equities’ is not a well-defined term. Not surprisingly, a policy based around protecting an ill-defined term can sow confusion among agency officials and the public, and make it very hard to know exactly the effect of the policy. In the interest of the unprecedented levels of openness in government committed to by the President, the White House needs to review this policy, and send agencies any additional guidance if needed.

The full list of signatories:

American Library Association

Brechner Center for Freedom of Information

Cause of Action

Center for Effective Government

Defending Dissent Foundation

Electronic Privacy Information Center – EPIC

Essential Information

Government Accountability Project – GAP

James Madison Project

MuckRock

National Security Archive

National Security Counselors

Northern California Association of Law Libraries

National Freedom of Information Center

OpenTheGovernment.org

PEN American Center

Project On Government Oversight – POGO

Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility – PEER

Society of Professional Journalists

Special Libraries Association

The Sunlight Foundation

Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse – TRAC

Tully Center for Free Speech at Syracuse University

Washington Coalition for Open Government

Individual signatories (additional information for identification purposes only):

Mark Tapscott, Executive Editor, Washington Examiner

The letter can be found here.

About Cause of Action:

Cause of Action is a non-profit, nonpartisan government accountability organization that fights to protect economic opportunity when federal regulations, spending and cronyism threaten it. For more information, visit www.causeofaction.org.

About OpenTheGovernment.org:

OpenTheGovernment.org is a coalition of good- and limited- government groups, environmentalists, journalists, library and consumer groups, labor, and others united to make the federal government a more open place in order to ensure integrity and accountability in the operation of our governing institutions, foster confidence in representative government, and support our democratic principles. Our coalition transcends partisan lines and includes progressives, libertarians, and conservatives.

To schedule an interview with Cause of Action’s Executive Director Dan Epstein, contact Mary Beth Hutchins, mary.beth.hutchins@causeofaction.org

###

 

Press ReleaseLearn MoreDownload Letter
09/26/2014

Lessons for the Next Attorney General

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder is resigning after five-and-a-half years in the Obama administration. Despite Cause of Action raising the following concerns to the Department of Justice (DOJ) during Attorney General Holder’s tenure, here are four DOJ failures that Cause of Action hopes the next Attorney General would ensure the agency corrects:

  1. Cause of Action asked DOJ to take the claims of IRS targeting seriously, but the available evidence suggests a failure to conduct a full and fair investigation.
  2. The IRS appears to have violated the Federal Records Act (and possibly other laws) by losing or deleting Lois Lerner’s emails, but DOJ has given no indication that it will investigate the email destruction in any meaningful way.
  3. Cause of Action provided DOJ with evidence of up to $150 million in fraud at the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) in May 2012.  When given the opportunity to intervene and recover taxpayer dollars under the False Claims Act, DOJ declined.  Cause of Action is continuing to pursue this fraud lawsuit against the CTA because American taxpayers deserve accountability.  DOJ retains the ability to intervene, despite its initial failure to do so.
  4. On March 19, 2009, AG Holder issued a memo on the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) stating: “In the face of doubt, openness prevails.”  Despite this proclamation, Associated Press Washington Bureau Chief Sally Buzbee says the transparency of the Obama administration “is significantly worse than previous administrations.”  Cause of Action’s own investigation found that improper White House review of FOIA requests violated both the letter and spirit of FOIA. In fact, DOJ is one of twelve agencies Cause of Action is suing for allowing the White House to obstruct the processing of FOIA requests.
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08/26/2014

Dan Epstein on The Federal Drive with Tom Temin 8/25/2014

Listen to the interview here.

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08/25/2014

Video: Dan Epstein Discusses How the White House is Obstructing Transparency on NewsmaxTV

Read the full story: Newsmax TV

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08/19/2014

FOIA Follies: Department of Commerce Accidentally Says No Responsive Records, Then Wrongfully Withholds 30 Pages

Cause of Action is continuing to investigate improper White House review of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests by asking agencies to produce their communications with the White House. We recently sued 12 agencies that have failed to provide a final response to our FOIA Requests. We submitted a FOIA request to The Department of Commerce (Commerce) asking for its communications with the White House on November 26, 2013. After eight months of waiting, Commerce responded on June 25, 2014 saying that there were no responsive documents.

No Docs

Cause of Action received a supplemental response from Commerce 25 minutes later informing us to disregard the previous email and provided a new final response. The new response: “The responsive documents located in response to your FOIA request are being withheld in their entirety.” Commerce withheld 30 pages of documents in full, citing FOIA exemptions 5 and 6. By contrast, every other agency that has responded to our request provided documents with only some redactions and nothing withheld in full.

withheld

In less than 30 minutes, “no responsive documents” becomes 30 pages of documents “withheld in their entirety.” This is transparency in the “most transparent administration in history.”

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08/18/2014

Washington Times: Lawsuit accuses Obama White House of thwarting release of public data under FOIA

Read the full story: Washington Times

“The White House is demanding access to records and otherwise influencing agencies’ FOIA obligations to produce responsive documents in a manner that is not countenanced by the law,” CoA argued in its lawsuit. “Indeed, the ‘most transparent administration in history’ has injected itself into a process (FOIA) presumably to self-regulate what agency records are produced to the public.”

The suit references a June 30 story in The Washington Times that reported on the impact of the “White House equities” memo and quoted FOIA officers at federal agencies as saying the new review process had been used to keep information embarrassing to the Obama administration from being released.

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