Saturday, January 30, 2010
With Year One of President Barack Obama’s first term complete, some government watchdogs are still waiting for the new era of openness to begin. Outside of the decision to release White House visitor logs and a few of the torture memos, the Obama administration hasn’t distinguished itself much from President George W. Bush.
In 2007, Americans seeking access to government documents filed 278 lawsuits against the Bush administration. The following year the figure went up to 298.
And in 2009? 319.
The White House insists the number of Freedom of Information Act lawsuits for Bush’s last year was actually higher, more like 328, while only 306 were filed last year. Some requesters of information say they are facing the same delays and runarounds that they did during the Bush administration.
Meanwhile, good-government groups were less than overwhelmed this week when the Obama administration followed through on a promise to release “high value” data in downloadable format through http://data.gov. Many groups felt that most of the more than 1,000 datasets put up on the website were either obscure or outdated. More relevant, sensitive information would be preferred.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
More than 300 Public-Records Lawsuits Filed in Obama's First Year (by Carol D. Leonnig, Washington Post)
Info Released Under Obama Transparency Order is of Little Value, Critics Say (by Ed O'Keefe, Washington Post)
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