Bush seeks to reverse open records move

Ocala Star-Banner

President Bush is asking Congress to repeal a portion of an open records law he signed five weeks ago, a move that open government advocates say stymies efforts to make government more transparent.

An eight-line provision buried in the 1,314-page appendix to the president's spending plan would move a new office for resolving disputes over government records to the very agency that defends other federal agencies wishing to keep government documents shrouded: the Department of Justice.

Critics contend that would create a conflict of interest because officials aiming to resolve disputes and those defending the government in such battles would both work at the Justice Department.

"They are not a public advocate," said Patrice McDermott, director of the nonpartisan OpenTheGovernment.org. "They are not an access agency."

But the White House says it makes sense to house the Office of Government Information Services at the Justice Department because the agency already oversees government-wide use of the Freedom of Information Act, and is well-equipped to deal with the legal issues surrounding FOIA, The Associated Press reported.

The OPEN Government Act that Bush signed into law Dec. 31 created the office in the National Archives to mediate disputes, review how agencies use FOIA, and recommend policy changes.

Currently, requesters of government information who are not given the records they seek after appealing have only one recourse: go to court. For many requesters, the cost is too high, a situation Congress tried to fix by creating the dispute-resolution office.

Proposing to shift the office from Archives to Justice is an attempt to ignore a portion of the new law through the end of Bush's tenure by tossing the issue into the budgeting process, said Daniel J. Metcalfe, who retired from the Justice Department last year after 25 years directing the agency's efforts at overseeing government-wide implementation of FOIA.

"This is such a transparent gambit by the [Office of Management and Budget] that you can expect Congress to react forcefully - either through the appropriations process or even more directly," he said. "In other words, the White House might not so easily be able to 'run out the clock' on this statutory obligation."

Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., who along with Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, sponsored the OPEN Government Act, accused the White House of trying to undermine the law..........