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« Into the Storm | Main | The Combat Of Ideas » February 16, 2007State Agency Deliberately Ignores Public-Info Request
The state's Department of Revenue is refusing to respond to inquiries from a conservative watchdog organization over a controversial tax, labeling them "not a legitimate group."I learned about this situation in mid-January when an employee of the Department of Revenue provided me a copy of Revenue spokesperson Emily Richards' email. I passed the information along to Drew Johnson so he would know that the Revenue department was being deliberatly unresponsive to a request for what is supposed to be public information. I'm pleased to see it surface in the mainstream media. In the City Paper story, new Revenue commissioner Reagan Farr attempts to defend Richards' actions: Farr said TCPR did not follow "the proper channels" by not directing all of their inquiries to Richard, the department's spokeswoman. He said TCPR representatives were calling different employees of the Department of Revenue and not specifically working through Richard.But Richards' own emails undermine Farr's spin: "The Tennessee Center for Policy Research has called several people in the department, including me, re: unauthorized substances tax. As you know, this is Drew Johnson's group. We are not responding to the calls," Richard's e-mail to Corney and Lassiter read.So, TCPR in fact did attempt to go through proper channels - Richards - but a decision was made by Richards to ignore a legitimate public-info request from a citizen, and to advise the employees of the Department of Revenue also to ignore the information request. The decision was based on TCPR's reputation as a critic of the administration. And Richards' actions were accepted and now endorsed by the top officials in the administration. That is just wrong. Also writing about this story today: Ben Cunningham asks, "Should government be allowed to be this arrogant to us?" Bob Krumm gives government secret-holders some advice: "If you want to make sure that the information you don't want released ends up on the front page, just refuse to release it." Kay Brooks nails it: "You want proof that TCPR is a legitimate watchdog group? Here you have it. They've uncovered a group of people who have forgotten that they're supposed to be serving the public. The next question is what else does the Department of Revenue not want us to know?" Posted in Tennessee Government News
Comments
Yes, I saw that earlier. Was very interesting. I can't wait to see what happens! Posted by: Allison at February 16, 2007 12:40 PMPost a comment
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