Open records

Articles of Interest

March 15, 2009

Electric cars, Obama and education reform, Kansas online records, Proposition K.

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Articles of Interest

February 24, 2009

Socialism is Evil (Walter E. Williams) A reminder from Professor Williams of George Mason University as to why taxation is wrong, and it’s both political parties that are guilty. “The essence of socialism is the attenuation and ultimate abolition of private property rights. Attacks on private property include, but are not limited to, confiscating the [...]

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Should Wichita Identify Superintendent Finalists?

February 19, 2009

When USD 259, the Wichita public school district, draws criticism from the Wichita Eagle’s Rhonda Holman, you know they’ve really done something wrong. Her column of today (Identify finalists for superintendent) requests that the Wichita school district make public the names of the finalists in its search for superintendent. Her request is likely to remain [...]

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President Obama on Government Transparency

January 22, 2009

The way to make a government responsible is not simply to enlist the services of responsible men and women, or to sign laws that ensure that they never stray. The way to make government responsible is to hold it accountable. And the way to make government accountable is make it transparent so that the American [...]

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Open Records Resource Site for Kansas

January 10, 2009

The Kansas Meadowlark has an informational page featuring descriptions of websites about open records and information about government. The link is kansasmeadowlark.com/open-records.

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Records requests are not always easy

December 21, 2008

It seems that citizens all over the country have trouble with public school districts and records requests. Sometime you have to battle not only the school district, but also third parties such as teachers unions.

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Wichita Public School District: Taxation Without Information is the Policy

November 3, 2008

Taxation without information. I wish I could take credit for inventing this phrase that I recently heard someone use. It captures very well the key characteristic of USD 259, the Wichita public school district, and its campaign for the proposed 2008 bond issue. This school district resists providing information that will help journalists and citizens [...]

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Wichita Public School Logo Fight Legal Costs

October 6, 2008

Yesterday’s Wichita Eagle reported in a story that USD 259, the Wichita public school district, “… worked for about five years to get its mark registered over the objection of Washington apple growers …” The article is referring to a logo that Wichitans for Effective Education has been using on some of its printed materials. [...]

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Wichita School District: Accountability is on Our Terms

September 25, 2008

USD 259, the Wichita public school district, wants to be held accountable. They say so. It’s a theme of the proposed bond issue, as recently stated by celebrity spokesman George Fahnestock: “…the district’s accountability is strong…” (See CARE launches Yes For Kids campaign) But what happens when citizens seek information from USD 259 that will [...]

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Records Requests Sent Today

September 15, 2008

Today, I’ve made two records requests under the Kansas Open Records Act. The first, to USD 259, the Wichita public school district, is this: All correspondence between USD 259 and Schaefer Johnson Cox Frey Architecture and its representatives from July 1, 2007 to the present. I ask for both written and electronic correspondence such as [...]

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Alaska Climate Change Sub-Cabinet: Not an Example of Sarah Palin’s Transparent Government

September 4, 2008

Paul Chesser of Climate Strategies Watch has done some investigative work seeking to understand the role of The Center for Climate Strategies in Alaska. (The Alaska Climate Change Sub-Cabinet plays the same role there that the Kansas Energy and Environmental Policy Advisory Group (KEEP) plays here.) In his excellent and informative post Palin, Alaska’s Climate [...]

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Kansas Energy and Environmental Policy Advisory Group: Hiding Budget Numbers

August 13, 2008

Paul Chesser of Climate Strategies Watch writes about the budget transparency of the Kansas Energy and Environmental Policy Advisory Group, or KEEP. Kansas government often has troubles with transparency. One of the main problems with KEEP is that policy is being formulated under the guidance of an outside radical environmentalist group, instead of in the [...]

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How to Pass the Wichita School Bond Issue

August 11, 2008

For tonight’s meeting of the board of USD 259, the Wichita public school district, a resolution has been prepared that calls for a vote on a proposed bond issue to be held on November 4, 2008. I don’t know if the board will vote to approve this measure or if they will even take a [...]

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When A Records Request Fails

July 10, 2008

When a citizen makes a records requests and the records that were received don’t match the request, what should the citizen do? The records I received match the request I made in that they relate to the governmental entity and its relationship to a certain business, but they are for a time period much older [...]

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Earthjustice in Kansas: The Press Release

July 2, 2008

I’ve recently learned that the radical environmentalist group Earthjustice played a role in the rejection of a coal-fired power plant in Kansas. I didn’t learn that from any Kansas news source, but only from Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius, and only then long after the permit for the plant was denied. See Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius [...]

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Wichita Council Member Jeff Longwell: We Can, and Do, Read

July 2, 2008

Wichita City Council Member Jeff Longwell, in the news article Little time to review Warren loan terms (July 1, 2008 Wichita Eagle), was reported as remarking “It’s unlikely many residents would read the full contract even if it had been made public earlier.” Mr. Longwell, many people in Wichita do read documents such as these. [...]

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Wichita Public School District’s Taxation Without Information

June 19, 2008

Taxation without information. I wish I could take credit for inventing this phrase that I recently heard someone use. It captures very well the key characteristic of USD 259, the Wichita public school district, and its campaign for the proposed 2008 bond issue.

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Wichita public schools: Open records requests are a burden

May 19, 2008

I recently learned that USD 259 (the Wichita, Kansas public school district) considers it a burden when citizens make requests for records. At least that’s what Lynn Rogers, vice-president of the board of USD 259, told me at a May 12, 2008 meeting when I was invited to express concerns regarding my opposition to the proposed 2008 bond issue. I suspect the other board members and administration officials agree with him.

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Open records in Kansas follow-up

March 24, 2008

I have been recruited to participate in the Sunshine Blogger Project, an effort to gauge the compliance of the nations’ governors with open records laws as they exist in each state. I wrote about my experience with the office of Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius in this article: Open Records in Kansas.

The letter I received from JaLynn Copp, the Assistant Chief Counsel to Governor Sebelius, was so confusing that I wrote back requesting clarification. I had to communicate this request by writing on the processed fibers of dead trees, which were then delivered to Topeka by carbon-spewing trucks operated by the United States Postal Service, as Ms. Copp did not share an email address with me.

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Open records in Kansas

March 6, 2008

Recently I was recruited to participate in the Sunshine Blogger Project. Its purpose is to “find out whether America’s governors properly archive the e-mail that comes into and goes out of their offices, and are able to provide copies of those e-mails when members of the public request them.”

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Because Government Should Have Accountability

May 4, 2005

Because Government Should Have Accountability
Paul M. Weyrich, Chairman and CEO of the Free Congress Foundation (Click here to read the article.)

In an article from The Wichita Eagle published on May 3, 2005 titled “Ice rink figures don’t add up, records show” we find this quote: “Ice Sports Wichita has been on a downward slide longer than the city staff admits in a report the City Council is scheduled to act on today, records show.” These records were obtained through a request filed under the Kansas Open Records act. My understanding of this news story is that City of Wichita staff has been misleading everyone — including the mayor and city council — about the true state of the ice rink’s financial affairs. If not for the reporters who obtained the records, this deception might be continuing.

The commentary by Paul M. Weyrich referenced above contains examples of where the Federal Freedom of information Act has been used to uncover governmental misdeeds. The article also mentions a bill titled the OPEN Government Act, designed to “ensure that government acts promptly and efficiently in responding to FOIA requests.”

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