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JUDICIAL WATCH SUES GOV. BUSH OVER RECORDS REQUESTS
Campus
newspaper asks Supreme Court to take Earnhardt case
TALLAHASSEE The publishers of the Independent Florida Alligator
newspaper in Gainesville are asking the state Supreme Court to
consider whether the law restricting access to autopsy photos is
constitutional. In papers filed earlier this month, Campus
Communications asked the high court to review a lower court's decision
that the law barring public access to autopsy materials was
constitutional. 7/31/02
Courts
may clarify 'sunshine' law after Escambia convictions
Convictions of two suspended Escambia County commissioners could lead
to appeals that clarify what officials can or cannot discuss in
private under the state's open-government "sunshine" law.
Lawyers spent hours before and during both trials arguing what is
permitted under the open-government law, but Okaloosa County Judge T.
Patterson Maney had little case law to help him resolve the issues.
7/29/02
Does
it have any teeth?
Orange commissioners should not blow the chance to
enforce a lobbying law.-- Orange County no longer is in "uncharted
territory" when it comes to enforcing its eight-year-old lobbying
law.--
That's the excuse some commissioners made in March, when they did little
more than scold the first lobbyist ever investigated for violating the
county's registration requirements. Bertica Cabrera Morris acknowledged
that she didn't properly register two clients whose interests she
represented before the board, and she was admonished never to do so
again.---
Now commissioners will decide what to do with a second violator --
Universal Studios lobbyist John McReynolds. 7/24/02
Emotional
coddling as policy
The Florida Legislature was not doing the Earnhardt family a favor when
it forbade public access to Dale Earnhardt's autopsy pictures. Quite the
reverse. The Legislature turned the Earnhardt family's emotions into a
weapon in an ongoing war on open record laws that is, on Floridians'
right to know what their government is doing. Dale Earnhardt was nothing
more than ammo in legislators' strategy, and their misuse of Earnhardt's
name was more obscene than any Internet peddler's. Internet postings of
corpses may be mildly ghoulish (and mostly dull), but the effect is more
prurient than consequential, fading the moment a more topical image hits
the circuit. A law's consequences never end. One bad law infects new
ones, turning a virus into a precedent. The Earnhardt law is one such
virus. 7/23/02
Tobacco-drive
money goes up in smoke - Ever wonder why a pack of cigarettes costs
so much? Look at spending by Florida's short-lived Committee for
Responsible Solutions, and you might get an idea.-- Florida prides
itself as the Sunshine State, but its ballot-disclosure laws get only a
mid-level grade from a national group studying the issue.--
The Ballot Initiative Strategy Center Foundation gives Florida a C on
how easy it is for voters to track online contributions to the rising
number of proposed constitutional amendments.--
There are 24 ballot-initiative states, and 17 earned D's or F's in the
report released last week. Only four get A's or B's -- Washington,
California, Massachusetts and Illinois. "In these states, you can
click on the name of a political action committee, and it will be linked
to the ballot initiative that it supports," said Galen Nelson,
foundation director. "Florida's disclosure just isn't that
clear." 7/21/02
Jury:
Second Escambia official guilty of breaking open-government law
PENSACOLA
A jury Saturday found a second suspended Escambia County
commissioner guilty of violating Florida's open-government
"sunshine" law by discussing public business in private on
two occasions. Terry Smith, who stood and shook his head slightly as
the verdict was read, was accused of breaking the law through two
conversations with another suspended commissioner, former Florida
Senate President W.D. Childers, last year. 7/21/02
Escambia
official's credibility questioned at 'sunshine' trial
PENSACOLA Testimony that convicted suspended Escambia County
Commissioner W.D. Childers, a former Florida Senate president, of
violating the state's open-government "sunshine" law came
under new scrutiny Thursday. The testimony came from Escambia Supervisor
of Elections Bonnie Jones 7/19/02
Backroom
dealers
Commissioners Hartage, Hoenstine and Sindler ought to be ashamed. ...
(they) voted against strengthening a county law that would have made
public most private meetings between elected officials and lobbyists
representing special interests. And if campaign contributions are any
indication, they've been handsomely rewarded for their stance.-- ...
Together, the three have received a staggering $65,000 from registered
lobbyists and their clientele to finance their re-election bids,
campaign documents show.-- ...
Taxpayers finance government. And taxpayers should hold at least as much
sway as deep-pocketed special interests in deciding how their
hard-earned money is spent. 7/18/02
Clouding
Sunshine: Autopsy ruling misses bigger issues
Florida's tradition of open records could suffer a crippling blow if
Friday's appellate-court decision in the Earnhardt autopsy photos case
is allowed to stand. 7/15/02
Childers
asks for new trial on open-meeting conviction
PENSACOLA Former Senate President W.D. Childers has asked for a new
trial on his open-government "sunshine" law conviction.
Childers, 68, was found guilty in June on one count of breaking the
state's open-government law by discussing public business privately with
other Escambia County commissioners. 7/13/02
Earnhardt
autopsy photo law ruled constitutional
The law restricting access to the autopsy photos of NASCAR driver Dale
Earnhardt is constitutional, the Fifth District Court of Appeal said
today, but they urged the Florida Supreme Court to consider the issue
further. 7/12/02
OPEN
IMMIGRATION COURTS
The U.S. Immigration and Naturalization long has bucked a fundamental
American principle: that open government is good for democracy. Several
1996 laws made public scrutiny of the INS increasingly difficult,
including inquiries from the courts and media. Anti-terrorism efforts
have worsened that tradition of secrecy. 7/8/02
Broward
judge upholds law restricting access to autopsy photos
FORT LAUDERDALE A judge Wednesday upheld a Florida law restricting
public access to autopsy photos that was being challenged by several of
the state's newspapers. The law was passed in March 2001 after the death
of race car driver Dale Earnhardt. "The right to privacy, the right
to freedom of press and speech, the right of the people to have access
to public records and the right to be left alone are important rights to
all who live in this county," Circuit Judge Leroy Moe wrote in his
order. 7/4/02
Court:
City does not have to release all e-mail
The 2nd District Court of Appeal on Wednesday upheld a decision that
the city of Clearwater does not have to release to the St. Petersburg
Times e-mails that two city employees sent on government computers but
deemed "personal." 7/4/02
State
high court may decide if government e-mail public - TALLAHASSEE --
In a ruling that could have a sweeping impact on whether the public
can see what their government officials are saying online, the Florida
Supreme Court has been asked to decide if e-mail in government
computers should be open to the public. 7/4/02
An
exercise in freedom shouldn't put it at risk
Asking for a public record can be hazardous to your freedom in various
parts of Florida.6/15/02
Award
Is Well-Deserved
Enemies of open government ran amok during recent
sessions of the Florida Legislature. They rushed to try to pass many
often unnecessary, unjustified and harmful exemptions to the state's
vital "Government in the Sunshine" policy, requiring open
records and open official meetings.
Public
records are tougher to view since Sept. 11
ORLANDO When it comes to viewing public records since Sept. 11,
the pendulum has swung from a presumption of access to tougher
standards over which federal and state records can be released,
lawyers and journalists said Saturday. At the same time, the U.S.
government is demanding more information of its citizens by making it
easier to authorize wiretaps and suggesting that in some cases
confidentiality between an attorney and client can be breached, said
Freedom Forum advocate Paul McMasters. 5/5/02
State's
newspapers condemn efforts to dim Sunshine Law
TALLAHASSEE -- Florida newspapers are uniting to call attention to a
record number of bills state lawmakers are considering to limit the
public's access to government records and meetings. 3/10/02
-
Bill
widely expands secrecy in government
The quickly and quietly moving measure has Sunshine Law advocates
howling.
-
Too
many anti-openness bills
Legislators have figured out two ways to roll back open-government
this year. Claim any bill will fight terrorism or protect privacy,
and boom, it's on the fast track. Even terrible ideas such as Rep.
Rob Wallace's measure to drive the government contracting business
behind closed doors, or Sen. Buddy Dyer's to criminalize the use
of a person's name without his or her written consent.
-
Your
right to know could be eclipsed
State lawmakers are pushing to restrict public access to government
information routinely used by average citizens, businesses and
watchdog groups. Articles in Sunday's Sentinel that rely on
information available through the state's so-called Sunshine Laws or
the federal Freedom of Information Act appear
with a sunshine logo.
-
Public
records under attack
Citing potential terrorist threats to domestic security, a surge in
identity theft and the increasing use of the Internet, state
legislators have launched an unprecedented attempt to shield public
records from prying eyes.
-
Assaults
on sunshine
Tallahassee lawmakers are being even more brazen than usual in trying
to create unjustifiable new exceptions to Florida's open-government
laws.
-
For
open government
State lawmakers are attacking Florida's open-record laws with a
vengeance. Three proposals are especially disturbing: One would bar
public access to reports about extraordinary medical mistakes; another
would ban access to information about public-utility customers; yet
another harkens to the days when public-contract negotiations were
conducted in secret.
-
Philip Gailey
Public
needs to speak out for open government
People keep moving to Florida, and too many of the newcomers don't
know -- or care -- about the state's
"Government-in-the-Sunshine" laws. That may be one reason
why Florida legislators year after year keep chipping away at these
laws that require, with carefully drawn exceptions, open meetings and
open records. This issue doesn't seem to have the kind of organized
constituency that lawmakers pay attention to. Editorial writers can
scream their heads off, but until there is a public outcry that can be
heard from Key West to Tallahassee, the forces of darkness will keep
drawing the shades on open government in Florida.
-
Clouds
hover over Florida's famed sunshine
Most people like the idea of public records, at least in the abstract.
In 1992, 81 percent of voters passed the Sunshine Amendment,
constitutionally protecting Florida's open government laws.
More clips here updated
04/14/07
Security concerns threaten
state's open records, meetings law
By Jim Ash, Palm Beach Post Capital Bureau
Wednesday, September 26, 2001
TALLAHASSEE -- Florida is under a state of
emergency, legislators are considering closing committee meetings, and
routine public records are being withheld in the name of a massive
federal terrorism investigation.
In the two weeks since suicide attacks killed
thousands, civil libertarians are growing worried that Florida's
ironclad Government-in-the-Sunshine Law -- the most open in the nation
-- could become collateral damage.
"I understand the fear because I'm
afraid. But this rush to close access doesn't do us any good,"
said Barbara Petersen, president of the First Amendment Foundation.
"At this time of national crisis, it's more important than ever
that we know how well our government is functioning."
Petersen's concerns weren't eased Monday
evening when House and Senate leaders announced the creation of
special "security" committees assigned to coordinate
Florida's response to the national emergency.
"The tragedies of Sept. 11 have prompted
a nationwide effort to improve security measures, and it is important
that the House of Representatives is equipped with the most current
knowledge and technological information on anti-terrorism
available," Speaker Tom Feeney, a Republican attorney from
Oviedo, said in a release.
The 12-member committee's mission is fluid;
no meetings have been set, and no legislation has been drafted.
Feeney's goal is to conduct committee meetings in public, but his
spokeswoman, Kim Stone, could not rule out closed-door sessions.
"There are no plans to ever hold
meetings in secret. There will never be a vote held in secret,"
Stone said. Yet, "there is the possibility that they might be
privy to some confidential information. We want to make sure that
everything is done legally and handled cautiously."
Rep. Randy Ball, R-Mims, expects fellow
committee members to concentrate on tightening security at Florida's
flight training schools and beefing up agricultural inspections to
watch for biological and chemical weapons at ports and airports.
It will be difficult if not impossible to
conduct all of the committee's business in public, said Ball, a U.S.
Naval Academy graduate and former Marine Corps officer who also worked
as a homicide detective.
And that's the way it should be, he said.
"You can't talk about what your particular strategy is going to
be for locating some terrorist organization because obviously they
read the newspapers," he said.
Senate President John McKay formed a similar
Select Committee on Public Security and Crisis Management. He wants
the committee to focus on state security as well as the sagging
economy.
His chief of staff, Greg Krasovsky, said it
was too early to say whether the committee will have to bolt its
doors. "It really amounts to what kind of information the
committee has before it," Krasovsky said. "I can see a
situation where you have some information from the federal government
or you talk about techniques for aerial spraying."
The consideration of closed committee
meetings -- and a new proposal by Rep. Debby Sanderson, R-Fort
Lauderdale, to create a state Division of Homeland Security mirroring
a federal agency created last week -- raise the specter of the
infamous "Johns Committee" and what proved to be the
legislature's darkest days.
In 1956, when the nation was waging a Cold
War, the Legislative Investigation Committee was born in Florida. Most
often referred to by the name of its chief advocate, Sen. Charley
Johns, D-Starke, the committee spent nearly a decade investigating
suspected communists and subversives and rooting out homosexuals in
Florida universities.
When the committee records were opened in
1993, researchers discovered that the committee had interrogated and
harassed more than 1,000 suspects in motels, police stations and
courthouses. Most were never charged with a crime.
Larry Spalding, legislative counsel for the
American Civil Liberties Union of Florida, said legislators aren't
likely to repeat the sins of the past. But given recent events, civil
liberties in Florida and around the nation are at a crucial juncture,
he said.
"I think the biggest concern you have
right now is you have the rush to do something," Spalding said.
"We're in a position right now that we've never been in, and I
understand you probably have to change some of the rules. But we're
worried that we could be back in the 1950s when all you had to do was
mention `national security' and get a law passed."
Setbacks for open government laws and privacy
guarantees show no immediate signs of abating. The same day security
committee assignments were announced, journalists were scrambling to
investigate reports that the World Trade Center bombing suspects had
expressed an interest in crop-dusting airplanes in Belle Glade.
The Florida Department of Agriculture
maintains a list of about 150 "aerial applicator" licenses
but refused to turn it over to The Palm Beach Post. It was given
instead to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, which also
refused to release it, saying the list is part of the FBI
investigation.
Last Wednesday, the Florida Department of
Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles temporarily banned public access to
its database of driver license records after the FBI requested
information on 13 suspected terrorists who held Florida driver
licenses.
"We reached the conclusion that this was
the prudent thing to do. Rather than take the risk of compromising any
investigations in the field, we put a temporary stop to the outflow of
records," department spokesman Bob Sanchez told The St.
Petersburg Times.
While some agencies were taking unprecedented
steps to close access to public records, others were considering
changing their policies protecting privacy.
Secretary of State Katherine Harris, who
heads the state library division, announced Tuesday her staff is
working with county librarians to develop new "protocols"
that would require "better identification" for using
Internet-connected computers at libraries, such as those suspected of
being used by some of the terrorists. Library patrons are now required
to give only their first names when they use public computers to enter
Internet "chat rooms."
Petersen is drafting a letter to the division
of driver licenses to complain that closing the records was
unconstitutional. If lawmakers decide to close committee meetings,
"we will jump up and down," she said. The Florida
Constitution is unusually strong in its requirement that three or more
legislators must meet in public when discussing pending legislation.
But legislators may be tempted to test another provision that appears
to give them latitude to set their own rules, Petersen said.
In a statement released late Tuesday, Feeney
quoted that portion of the state constitution: "The rules of each
house . . . may, where reasonably necessary for security purposes or
to protect a witness appearing before a committee, provide for the
closure of committee meetings."
"While I remain a strong advocate for
openness in the legislative process, should the protection of the
security of the citizens of this state reasonably necessitate the
holding of a closed meeting, I will not hesitate to take the necessary
steps to authorize such a meeting," Feeney wrote.
Staff writer S.V. Dαte contributed to
this story.
http://www.gopbi.com/partners/pbpost/epaper/editions/wednesday/news_3.html
jim_ash@pbpost.com
(Top)
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More clips:
-
-
Presidential
arrogance
Florida's
11 state university presidents have begun to meet behind
closed doors because there is no longer a Board of Regents
to force them to adhere to the Sunshine Law.
-
Assaults
on sunshine
Lawmakers seeking to circumvent Florida's open-government
laws are proposing even more troubling exemptions than usual
this session.
-
Security
qualms spur bills to curb public records
By Jim Ash, Palm Beach Post Capital Bureau
TALLAHASSEE -- Terrorists are getting deadlier, scam artists
are growing bolder and lawmakers are more concerned than
ever. Couple that with a critical grand jury report...
-
Sunshine
attack Legislators must have better things
to do than robbing the public of information.
-
University
officials meeting privately
Top officials from Florida's universities
have been meeting sporadically and sometimes privately over
the past 14 months to discuss and focus statewide policy
positions.
-
Watch
out
Legislators should leave well enough alone on open
government.
-
.
. . Feeney's stand
The House speaker can make a huge difference in
stemming the assault.
-
Sunshine
Laws remain intact -- so far
As of today, Florida's citizens still have the right to know what
their government is up to. Open government laws are still intact and
the public still has access to records. As of today, sunshine still
illuminates most of the dark corners of the state Capitol.
-
Shhhh,
don't say a word: The Senate is meeting
A possible transcript of the first secret meeting of the Florida
Senate.
-
Sunshine
Law faces shadow - TALLAHASSEE -- Lawmakers say they want to make
Florida safe from terrorism, but advocates of open government say
Florida's honored "government in the sunshine" faces the
gravest threat in a special session nearing its conclusion.
-
Critics
fear terrorism measures will erode Florida's open government laws
-TALLAHASSEE · Legislators say they want to make Florida safe from
terrorism, but advocates of open government say the state's honored
Government in the Sunshine Law faces the gravest threat during the
special session nearing its conclusion.
-
Rash
rush to secrecy
Wanted: A "Doctor of the Day" for Florida's
Legislature, preferably an orthopedist, for an outbreak of jerking
knees.
-
Senate
secrecy rule
The Senate hasn't had a secret meeting since 1967, but supporters of
the rule change say the war on terrorism has made some secrecy
essential.
-
Senate defends secret
planning
-
TALLAHASSEE -- A day after voting to allow themselves to meet in
secret, senators were quick to hail the controversial decision Friday,
noting at a security meeting that certain details of the state's
computer security plans can't be divulged to the public.
-
Senate
approves secrecy measures
TALLAHASSEE -- On an unrecorded voice vote, the state Senate Thursday
gave broad new powers to Senate President John McKay to close meetings
on security and terrorism "at his sole discretion."
-
New
rules to permit secrecy for Senate
Citing the need to access sensitive information related to terrorism,
the Florida Senate is prepared to adopt sweeping new rules that would
allow secret committee meetings.
-
State
senators add secret-sessions rule - TALLAHASSEE -- The Florida
Senate, carving an extraordinary exemption for itself from Florida's
open-meeting laws, voted to allow secret sessions aimed at averting
terrorism.
-
Editorial:
Hush the secrecy talk
Throughout the anthrax story at American Media Inc., it has become
clear that releasing information makes more sense than trying to
conceal information. The Legislature, particularly the Senate, seems
unwilling to believe such real-world evidence. Rather than scale back
attempts to...
-
In
the dark
Our position: Florida senators should be ashamed of
their disregard for the public.
-
Senate
adopts modified rule on secret meetings
The Senate slightly weakened a secret-meeting rule Thursday, but the
attorney for an open-government organization said the rule still puts
a big cloud over Florida's famous "sunshine" laws.
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