May 24, 2007

Fitzhugh Update

Here's an update on the continuing refusal of the office of state Rep. Craig Fitzhugh, chairman of the House Finance committee, to widely distribute copies of the original written "community enhancement grant" requests submitted by individual lawmakers...

Fitzhugh's office has made one copy available but you have to go to Fitzhugh's office in Legislative Plaza in Nashville to see it.

I believe Fitzhugh's refusal to fax the information to a citizen who requests it is a clear violation of the spirit of Tennessee's open-records laws.

Why are they refusing to fax the documents? It's not because of cost - it's a toll-free fax number. It's not because of the time it would take - it would take about 90 seconds to put the document in the fax feeder, enter my fax number, and hit the send button.

The only possible reason is that they are trying to make if difficult for me and other members of the media to get the records. I live 25 miles from Legislative Plaza. Admittedly I could drive there, but I have no guarantee that when I get there they will even let me make a copy the documents. Fitzhugh's assistant has told me via email that they will not make copies.

Even if they would make copies for me, what about citizens or media members who live 225 miles from Legislative Plaza? As things now stand, they would have to drive a long distance to see the records. If Fitzhugh's office won't fax the documents, it surely isn't going to make copies and mail them.

My request that they fax the information to me is not for my convenience, but for this principle: In the modern age of digital technologies such as the Internet, email and fax machines, a member of the public wishing to view a public record should not have to physically go to where the record is. The public official or state employee who has that record should use the available technology to give the citizen easy access to the records where reasonably possible.

That principle is, I believe, a part of the state's open records law.

Tennessee Code Annotated 10-7-505 (d) expressly states that Tennessee's open records act "shall be broadly construed so as to give the fullest possible public access to public records."

Making one copy available at Legislative Plaza and refusing to make it available via fax does not give the public "the fullest possible" access.

I also have asked Fitzhugh's office for copies of all emails related to the community enhancement grants - records that I am entitled to under state law. If Fitzhugh is going to insist that I can't make copies of the written requests and can only view them in person, is he also going to insist that the only way I can view the requested emails is to log on to his PC at legislative plaza and read through his emails? Of course not. So, naturally, in order for his office to comply with that portion of my open-records request, they will have to copy the emails. I would be happy if they printed them and sent me the printed copies, but it would be easier for them and me if they just hit the "forward" button and emailed them to me.

Either way, they are required by state law to
(TCA 10-7-505 (d), referenced above) to give me "the fullest possible public access to public records," including the emails.

And yet, Fitzhugh's office has failed to even acknowledge my open-records request for the emails.

Media reports on the community grants, such as today's report in The Tennessean, include lists of grants sought by local lawmakers, but if you look at the list you see that much of the information is generic and doesn't list the specific intended recipient of the grant, nor the dollar amount. That lack of information makes the list virtually worthless if you wanted to, for example, cross-reference the grant requests with each lawmakers' campaign donations data from past elections or in the coming election cycle.

Now you can understand why Fitzhugh perhaps wants to make the information as difficult to access as possible.

The right of the citizenry to have the fullest information possible about what its elected officials and its government are doing is crucial in a democracy, and Fitzhugh's office is doing its best to frustrate that right.

Update: Kleinheider weighs in.

UPDATE: VICTORY!