Fallin ignoring FOIA request

[Jersey Boss]

Yesterday it was reported on NPR that the Governors office was being threatned with a lawsuit over her non compliance with providing e-mails concerning her decision not to expand medicaid roles. Also discussed was her non compliance with having a designated official to provide public records to the public. Nary a mention was made in the DO, or local television. Why has local media gone black on this issue? Inquiring minds...

[zookeeper]

Yesterday it was reported on NPR that the Governors office was being threatned with a lawsuit over her non compliance with providing e-mails concerning her decision not to expand medicaid roles. Also discussed was her non compliance with having a designated official to provide public records to the public. Nary a mention was made in the DO, or local television. Why has local media gone black on this issue? Inquiring minds...

Surprisingly, it was The Oklahoman who made the first FOIA request and editorialized against Fallin's refusal to hand over the records.
http://newsok.com/gov.-mary-fallins-...rticle/3731064

[venture]

She just another corrupt politico that doesn't want to fess up and admit to being a puppet to special interests. Somewhere that goes against that whole "Faith, Family, and Freedom" thing, but Joe Voter with his IQ of 13 is too stupid to pay attention. :-P

[Steve]

Yesterday it was reported on NPR that the Governors office was being threatned with a lawsuit over her non compliance with providing e-mails concerning her decision not to expand medicaid roles. Also discussed was her non compliance with having a designated official to provide public records to the public. Nary a mention was made in the DO, or local television. Why has local media gone black on this issue? Inquiring minds...

You've not been reading The Oklahoman .... if you were, you'd know this records release started with an investigation by Oklahoman reporter Zeke Campfield. Don't believe everything you read on blogs.

[Jersey Boss]

You've not been reading The Oklahoman .... if you were, you'd know this records release started with an investigation by Oklahoman reporter Zeke Campfield. Don't believe everything you read on blogs.

I was aware of the initial story that ran last year, but was noting that I have seen nothing in the local media the last 60 days or so. Correct me if I missed something. Was the Oklahoman following up the denial with legal action? The source of my interest was NPR, not blogs.

[Steve]

The Oklahoman met personally with governor a few weeks ago and has continued to press this matter ....

[BBatesokc]

FOI requests - even very valid one's - are often ignored in Oklahoma (can't speak for elsewhere). Often they take the stance, "go get a lawyer and make us" knowing most people cannot afford such action. I do FOI requests from time-to-time. Some are honored, but many are not.

My most recent denial was from the court clerks office. They admitted what I wanted was a public record and that they used to give it to me on a regular basis - but now were not going to.

Will make the request again in the coming months. If its denied then I will indeed sue. But that 's about a $4,000 process to start (in this case) - so I'm in no big hurry.

[metro]

She just another corrupt politico that doesn't want to fess up and admit to being a puppet to special interests. Somewhere that goes against that whole "Faith, Family, and Freedom" thing, but Joe Voter with his IQ of 13 is too stupid to pay attention. :-P

At least Barry, the "most transparent" politician ever complies, right.........

[venture]

At least Barry, the "most transparent" politician ever complies, right.........

Who even mentioned him? We are talking about the governor here. Geez..after almost 18k posts on this board, you'd think you would be a little bit more prepared before making your posts. Guess not.

[kelroy55]

Who even mentioned him? We are talking about the governor here. Geez..after almost 18k posts on this board, you'd think you would be a little bit more prepared before making your posts. Guess not.

Hey... never pass up a chance to attack the President, doesn't matter if the thread is about him or not.

[onthestrip]

At least Barry, the "most transparent" politician ever complies, right.........

At least the President is allowed to invoke "executive privelage." Mary just made it up for herself. But theres no reason to bring the President in this.

[BoulderSooner]

At least the President is allowed to invoke "executive privelage." Mary just made it up for herself. But theres no reason to bring the President in this.

executive privilege .. was just made up the first time it was used

[Jersey Boss]

executive privilege .. was just made up the first time it was used

In the United States government, executive privilege is the power claimed by the President of the United States and other members of the executive branch to resist certain subpoenas and other interventions by the legislative and judicial branches of government. The concept of executive privilege is not mentioned explicitly in the United States Constitution, but the Supreme Court of the United States ruled it to be an element of the separation of powers doctrine, and/or derived from the supremacy of executive branch in its own area of Constitutional activity.(Chief Justice Burger, writing for the majority in US v. Nixon noted: "Whatever the nature of the privilege of confidentiality of Presidential communications in the exercise of Art. II powers, the privilege can be said to derive from the supremacy of each branch within its own assigned area of constitutional duties. Certain powers and privileges flow from the nature of enumerated powers; the protection of the confidentiality of Presidential communications has similar constitutional underpinnings.United States v. Nixon, 418 U.S. 683 (1974) (Supreme Court opinion at FindLaw))-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executive_privilege.

First claimed by G. Washington who refused to turn over documents to the House of Reps., concerning the Jay Treaty.

[Hawk405359]

This is the sort of thing that ticks me off. There is no reason at all that this information should be sealed. If you are a public official making a decision for the public, your thought process should be open to the public. This reasoning for not giving it over is nonsense, and all it does is make me think that some big-name donor shot her an e-mail and she changed her mind because of it. Hope this lawsuit works, this sort of behavior is despicable.

On another note, it's not really a blackout if they reported the story as it happened, is it? I know it's fashionable to bash the local papers, and there are some things that are worthy of criticism in any paper, but I've found that the stories people complain about not seeing until a national outlet says something are usually reported and heavily debated for months, and people just don't read the paper.

[kelroy55]

All but 100 pages were released, she's refusing to release those pages.

[Easy180]

All but 100 pages were released, she's refusing to release those pages.

AKA the Koch brothers e-mails

[OKCTalker]

What an insulting act by the governor. Complying with an FOIA request by releasing 51,000 pages on Good Friday when lots of people aren't around. What an absolute slap in the face of the three million Oklahomans she was elected to serve. I've never cared much about her either way - she has yet to accomplish anything substantive as governor as far as I can tell - but her manner of governing is making me pay closer attention.

[soonerguru]

One wonders what is contained in the 100 pages not released; must be explosive.

One also wonders if there was any email traffic between the Oklahoman ownership and the governor, or between the Oklahoman editorial board and the governor. Considering that the Oklahoman editorial board is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Heritage Foundation, inquiring minds want to know.

[Easy180]

I'm ready to see the one that promised her a high paying lobbyist gig after her do nothing tenure is over

[mkjeeves]

Kudos to Patrick at The Lost Ogle and the ACLU for their efforts helping to make this happen. They deserve some of the credit at least.

http://www.thelostogle.com/wp-conten...ds-request.pdf

[Steve]

I'll repeat what I said on Twitter: those who want to deprive Oklahoman reporter Zeke Campfield of credit for his hard work are dishonest & are suspect on their agenda. And I'll add one more thing: the emails show Zeke starting this whole thing, going to battle against Fallin, kept at it, and then OETA's Bob Sands, The Tulsa World's Wayne Green, The Oklahoma Gazette's Clifton Adcock and KOKH's Phil Cross joining in the fight a couple weeks in. That's the list, as it was, until December. And Zeke - God bless him - he stuck with it. He kept going and going. Editors kept up the pressure. Fallin came to the newsroom to visit about the matter. By the time the ACLU jumped on board, the emails were being prepped for release. If you REALLY think the governor was able to suddenly crank out all 50,000 emails in 12 hours in response to the ACLU letter, well, yeah, whatever.
Zeke Campfield and The Oklahoman brought these emails to light. Period.
I will applaud any lawyer, including Henderson, who might proceed with legal action against the governor for continuing to claim a non-existent "executive privilege" on the 100 withheld emails.

[mkjeeves]

I'll repeat what I said on Twitter: those who want to deprive Oklahoman reporter Zeke Campfield of credit for his hard work are dishonest & are suspect on their agenda. And I'll add one more thing: the emails show Zeke starting this whole thing, going to battle against Fallin, kept at it, and then OETA's Bob Sands, The Tulsa World's Wayne Green, The Oklahoma Gazette's Clifton Adcock and KOKH's Phil Cross joining in the fight a couple weeks in. That's the list, as it was, until December. And Zeke - God bless him - he stuck with it. He kept going and going. Editors kept up the pressure. Fallin came to the newsroom to visit about the matter. By the time the ACLU jumped on board, the emails were being prepped for release.
Zeke Campfield and The Oklahoman brought these emails to light. Period.
I will applaud any lawyer, including Henderson, who might proceed with legal action against the governor for continuing to claim a non-existent "executive privilege" on the 100 withheld emails.

Of course he/they get credit. It's wrong to leave out and not give some of it to the long effort of Patrick and the ACLU though. And it's bad reporting.

If you REALLY think the governor was able to suddenly crank out all 50,000 emails in 12 hours in response to the ACLU letter, well, yeah, whatever.

No, they obviously have been poring over the material for some time waiting for the gun to their head. They got that from the ACLU.

Anyone who pretends the ACLU doesn't have 1000 times more swing than all the press of Oklahoma is delusional.

[NoOkie]

I'll repeat what I said on Twitter: those who want to deprive Oklahoman reporter Zeke Campfield of credit for his hard work are dishonest & are suspect on their agenda. And I'll add one more thing: the emails show Zeke starting this whole thing, going to battle against Fallin, kept at it, and then OETA's Bob Sands, The Tulsa World's Wayne Green, The Oklahoma Gazette's Clifton Adcock and KOKH's Phil Cross joining in the fight a couple weeks in. That's the list, as it was, until December. And Zeke - God bless him - he stuck with it. He kept going and going. Editors kept up the pressure. Fallin came to the newsroom to visit about the matter. By the time the ACLU jumped on board, the emails were being prepped for release. If you REALLY think the governor was able to suddenly crank out all 50,000 emails in 12 hours in response to the ACLU letter, well, yeah, whatever.
Zeke Campfield and The Oklahoman brought these emails to light. Period.
I will applaud any lawyer, including Henderson, who might proceed with legal action against the governor for continuing to claim a non-existent "executive privilege" on the 100 withheld emails.

There's a pervasive narrative that the DO is firmly in the pocket of local big business and the Republican party in general. When events don't fit the narrative, people tend to overlook them(The DO fighting against our republican governor for records? Inconceivable!). The idea of TLO being a plucky little underdog fighting for information that is rightfully ours is a much warmer and fuzzier narrative than our large, local news paper doing it's job.

That being said, I like TLO and read it periodically, but they're not the kind of organization I trust for real journalism. Kudos to them for getting the ACLU involved and taking a stand, but they're still just a local satire source.

[OKCTalker]

I like TLO and read it periodically, but they're not the kind of organization I trust for real journalism. Kudos to them for getting the ACLU involved and taking a stand.

I don't think you meant to imply that TLO is giving orders to the ACLU. At least I HOPE not! After the 51,000 document release, TLO focused on an email from a governor's staff member about a legislator staring at her breasts.

[NoOkie]

I don't think you meant to imply that TLO is giving orders to the ACLU. At least I HOPE not! After the 51,000 document release, TLO focused on an email from a governor's staff member about a legislator staring at her breasts.

It was my understanding, which may be wrong, that TLO contacted the ACLU about filing suit. Not that they are "giving orders" just that they worked to get them involved.