White House just exempted itself from the FOIA...

[bluewraith]

White House office to delete its FOIA regulations

Uh...

 

[Bfish]

It will be interesting to see if a big deal is made out of this or not.

 

[printcraft]

Transparency

 

[BehindBlueI's]

Is the info in that particular office available via other offices?

 

[oldpink]

Laws?
We ain't got no laws!
We don't need no laws!
I don't need to show you no stinking laws!

 

[MCgrease08]

But the timing of the move raised eyebrows among transparency advocates, coming on National Freedom of Information Day and during a national debate over the preservation of Obama administration records. It's also Sunshine Week, an effort by news organizations and watchdog groups to highlight issues of government transparency.

"The irony of this being Sunshine Week is not lost on me," said Anne Weismann of the liberal Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, or CREW.

"It is completely out of step with the president's supposed commitment to transparency," she said. "That is a critical office, especially if you want to know, for example, how the White House is dealing with e-mail."

Could this Administration be any more tone deaf?

 

[printcraft]

Curious timing as they would have been another source for clintons sent emails......

 

[Denny347]

Must be nice.

 

[femurphy77]

It will be interesting to see if a big deal is made out of this or not.

Racist!

 

[Mgderf]

Time to start investing in tar and feathers again...

 

[Big Guy]

I prey that the time they have left in office , will pass quickly!

 

[Bennettjh]

Curious timing as they would have been another source for clintons sent emails......

That was my first thought.

 

[T.Lex]

This is unnecessarily alarmist. As noted in the link, that office was already exempt from FOIA by the courts.

Yeah, it kinda sucks, but there you go.

 

[Classic]

From the "most transparent administration" in history.

 

[sidewinder27]

Most offices within the WH were already exempt but this one complied for 30 years till now. Funny that they did it during Sunshine Week.

 

[Bfish]

Curious timing as they would have been another source for clintons sent emails......

Exactly what I thought!

 

[D-Ric902]

It is easier to delete the information and/or e mails and deal with the scandal than to have the info released and find out what is in it.

you can spin a scandal (racist, sexist, political witch hunt, phony scandal, partisan politics)

But you can't spin an e mail from Hitllery calling Michelle the "Wookie of the U.S." or what she really thinks of Obama.

its the same with any office in the White House calling Hillary "Hildebeast"

or just maybe, sometimes, every once in a while, somebody actually does work and they don't want the public to know.

 

[OakRiver]

https://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/transparencyandopengovernment/

My Administration is committed to creating an unprecedented level of openness in Government. We will work together to ensure the public trust and establish a system of transparency, public participation, and collaboration. Openness will strengthen our democracy and promote efficiency and effectiveness in Government.

Government should be transparent. Transparency promotes accountability and provides information for citizens about what their Government is doing. Information maintained by the Federal Government is a national asset. My Administration will take appropriate action, consistent with law and policy, to disclose information rapidly in forms that the public can readily find and use. Executive departments and agencies should harness new technologies to put information about their operations and decisions online and readily available to the public. Executive departments and agencies should also solicit public feedback to identify information of greatest use to the public.
Government should be participatory. Public engagement enhances the Government's effectiveness and improves the quality of its decisions. Knowledge is widely dispersed in society, and public officials benefit from having access to that dispersed knowledge. Executive departments and agencies should offer Americans increased opportunities to participate in policymaking and to provide their Government with the benefits of their collective expertise and information. Executive departments and agencies should also solicit public input on how we can increase and improve opportunities for public participation in Government.

Government should be collaborative. Collaboration actively engages Americans in the work of their Government. Executive departments and agencies should use innovative tools, methods, and systems to cooperateamong themselves, across all levels of Government, and with nonprofit organizations, businesses, and individuals in the private sector. Executive departments and agencies should solicit public feedback to assess and improve their level of collaboration and to identify new opportunities for cooperation.

I direct the Chief Technology Officer, in coordination with the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Administrator of General Services, to coordinate the development by appropriate executive departments and agencies, within 120 days, of recommendations for an Open Government Directive, to be issued by the Director of OMB, that instructs executive departments and agencies to take specific actions implementing the principles set forth in this memorandum. The independent agencies should comply with the Open Government Directive.

This memorandum is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by a party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.

This memorandum shall be published in the Federal Register.

BARACK OBAMA​

 

[Cygnus]

Racist!

Hey, hey. Take that crap to Starbuck's...

 

[pudly]

This seems to be a good place for this story:

AP: Obama administration sets record for withholding gov't files