Freedom of Information is a public right, even though the government continues to play games with requests.

News that Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano's office allowed political appointees to review hundreds of public records requests is shameful. Political considerations have no place in the government's compliance with the Freedom of Information Act.

Of all people, Napolitano, a lawyer, former U.S. attorney, Arizona attorney general and governor, should know that.

An Associated Press investigation found that requests for information and documents that were flagged as being politically sensitive - not sensitive for national security reasons, but politically sensitive - were scrutinized by eight appointees for "awareness purposes."

One was Jan Lesher, a Tucsonan who until earlier this year was Napolitano's chief of staff for operations.

The AP said the political hires didn't stop records from being released. Instead, their review at times slowed the release of documents for weeks. Delays were long enough that another top employee worried the government would be sued.

The political appointees showed "a probing curiosity" about the people and organizations that made requests for public records, the AP found.

The government says that fewer than 500 requests were subject to political review. They included all requests from lawmakers, journalists, and activist and watchdog groups between July 2009 and early this month. Lawmakers were identified by their political party.


Link:
http://azstarnet.com/news/opinion/editorial/article_1997e0b7-5d7a-5e46-a271-439a6c7f5496.html