In Washington, a half-effort on open government will get you an award


(U.S. Rep. Rep. Darrell ) Issa disclosed in his letter that (Catherine) Papoi complained confidentially to the
inspector general in March 2010 that the department, under a directive
signed by (chief privacy officer Mary Ellen) Callahan, had illegally sidetracked hundreds of requests from
journalists, watchdog groups and others for federal records to top
political advisers. The advisers wanted information about those
requesting the materials.

That’s from an AP story on a controversy within the Department of Homeland Security. That’s fairly scandalous sounding, but a study has found only half the federal agencies meet President Barack Obama’s FOIA standards. And, strangely, the president ducked an open government award from five advocacy groups on Wednesday.

Embarrassment?

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