Freedom of Information Act fails the public when officials lie and stonewall

Howard Bray, below, announces a rare victory for citizens and
neighborhood groups -- a successful Freedom of Information request in
which the District government was compelled to come clean and release
documents that it had previously kept hidden.

Here's the background, if you don't remember the case
(http://www.dcwatch.com/issues/mansiondefault.htm). The DC government
was involved in negotiations with the Casey Mansion Foundation and the
National Park Service over plans to build a mayoral mansion, and it
wanted to keep its plans secret from concerned citizens, community
groups, and neighborhood associations. When Howard Bray and others in
the neighboring Foxhall Community Citizens Association asked to see
the government documents involving the negotiations, they were
refused, and when they filed a Freedom of Information request for the
documents, the mayor's office denied that any documents existed. This
kind of secrecy and stonewalling will be familiar to anyone who tries
to get public information from what the mayor ironically refers to as
an open, transparent, and accessible government, but the outcome of
the case is a surprise.

Bray had the resoluteness and resources to file a lawsuit to require
the mayor's office to follow the DC Freedom of Information Act, and
after many months he has prevailed. The government has released the
documents, paid Bray's substantial attorney costs, and issued an
apology acknowledging its error
(http://www.dcwatch.com/issues/mansion050426.htm). It's a case to
celebrate and to emulate.

Gary Imhoff and Dorothy Brizill
themail@dcwatch.com