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Monday, February 4, 2008

Bush eliminates FOIA ombudsman

By Rebecca Carr | Monday, February 4, 2008, 06:22 PM

Noticeably absent from President Bush’s 2009 budget is funding for the job of overseeing all Freedom of Information Act disputes.

The ombudsman job at the National Archives and Records Administration was seen as the centerpiece of legislation passed by Congress last year and signed by Bush on Dec. 31 to overhaul the beleaguered law.

The president eliminated the job at the archives in his proposed spending plan and transferred the responsibility to the Justice Department.

After hearing rumors of this for the past two weeks, the open government community responded in full force, saying there is a conflict in interest in having Justice oversee complaints about FOIA responses.

“The Bush administration “repealed” a section of the new law,” said Patrice McDermott, executive director of OpenTheGovernment.org, an umbrella organization of conservative and liberal groups concerned about government secrecy. McDermott said the administration hid its actions deep in the Commerce section of the budget.

“The public should be shocked, as we are, that the president has attempted to use his budget to repeal a provision of a law he just signed,” McDermott said. “The OPEN Government Act creates an ombudsman office for the public in the National Archives and the president is not only ignoring this law, but attempting to re-write a statute-to legislate without Congress. This is an affront to all of us and it is time for Congress to restore the balance of powers.”

The Sunshine in Government Initiative, a coalition of ten media groups dedicated to open government issues, wrote to lawmakers today objecting to the action.

“Asking the Justice Department to perform the responsibilities creates an inherent conflict of interest,” the letter to lawmakers states. “We encourage the Congress to fully fund the Office of Government Information Services within the National Archives.  This reflects the plain language of the statute and intent of Congress in passing the OPEN Government Act.  The money should follow the law.”

“For the first time, Congress created an independent ombudsman in the federal government to help the public,” said Rick Blum, coordinator of SGI. “Why quit the experiment after only 35 days?”

The ombudsman would be an important advocate for the public to better understand how open government works, resolve disputes and avoid unnecessary lawsuits when seeking documents from our government, Blum said.

Daniel J. Metcalfe, who ran the Justice Department’s Office of Information and Privacy before retiring to run the Collaboration on Government Secrecy at American Univeristy’s Washington College of Law, found the president’s action ironic.

“Ironically, this is so transparent: OMB and Justice seek to avoid complying with this FOIA amendment by instead merely proposing its alteration, and through an appropriations process that of course won’t conclude until near the end of the year, if even by then,” Metcalfe said. “Meanwhile, existing law is flouted, a terrible example is set for FOIA implementation, and ‘the clock is run out’ by this administration.  Congress should see through this and not tolerate it.”

Sen. Patrick J. Leahy, D-Vt., who authored the FOIA overhaul with Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, vowed to restore funding for the job at the National Archives.

Leahy suspected that the administration would make this move and said so on Jan. 24 on the Senate floor.

“Once again, the White House has shown they intend to act contrary to the intent of Congress,” Leahy said.

“The president has repealed part of the law he signed just over a month ago,” Leahy said. “I will continue to work through the appropriations process to make sure that the National Archives and Records Administration has the necessary resources and funds to comply with the OPEN Government Act.”

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