April 10, 2008

Lola Potter: Public Information Obstacle

I'm beginning to understand why the Tennessee Center for Policy Research felt it had to sue Lola Potter, the public info officer for the state Department of Finance & Administration, to force her to stop ignoring their legitimate open records requests for more than nine months.

Back on March 11 I request a copy of the video the state had made of blasting at the governor's mansion construction site. Learning that the video was hours long, I quickly modified my request to seek a copy only of the portions of the video that actually show blasting in progress.

Subsequently, I requested merely to be given access to the tape so I could watch it, and copy the portions I selected onto my laptop's hardrive.

Potter has done nothing but stonewall and try to prevent me from accessing the tape by, first, telling me it would cost "hundreds, if not thousands of dollars" to get a DVD copy made, then by telling me they would make me a copy for $200, then telling me that I can't watch the video because the state has left it in the possession of the construction contractor.

Let's be clear about a few things.

1. There is no cost to the state to let me download parts or even all of the video to my harddrive. Therefore, any monetary charge to get a copy of the video is unreasonable and intended only as an obstacle to me getting the video.

2. Potter provided an exceprt of the video to two media outlets - the Nashville Scene and WKRN Channel 2 - for free. Thus, she has established the precedent that there is no charge for copies of excerpts of the video.

3. The $200 price tag is arbitrary as it bears no relationship to the actual cost of copying digital video.

4. There is no provision in state law which allows any state agency or employee to evade the requirements of the state's open records laws by storing the records in the possession of a contractor.

5. It has now been 30 days since I first requested the video. Potter clearly has no intention of following the law.

6. Lola Potter is the worst public information officer in state government.

7. Lola Potter's boss, F&A Commissioner David Goetz, has been copied on some of the emails I've sent to Potter insisting she follow the law and provide me access to the video. So has Gov. Bredesen's chief flack, Lydia Lenker. So far, neither of them has lifted a finger to make Potter follow the law.