Obama’s ‘Openness’ a Transparent Lie
The Associated Press is reporting that the Obama administration has denied more than a third of the Freedom of Information Act requests submitted last year.
This is no surprise to PJ Media or myself. We’ve had several refused in just the last year, and we’re still waiting on an answer to one more at least.
In October, we asked the FDIC to release to us records pertaining to their alleged maintenance of a list of politically connected banks which then received special treatment.
The Washington Post wrote at the time:
A Washington Post review of documents and interviews with many involved in the decisions show that regulators flagged the bank early on for its “highly visible” connection — in OneUnited’s case, a former board member who is married to Waters, the chairman of an important banking subcommittee. The alert was part of a previously undisclosed practice at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. of trying to identify banks that might cause “unnecessary press or public relations” problems, according to testimony a top FDIC official gave to House ethics investigators.
That prompted Rep. Darrell Issa (R.-Calif.), then ranking member and currently chair of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, to write a rather pointed letter demanding answers.
The FDIC’s response? Pound sand. That prompted PJM to send a FOIA request demanding those same answers.
FDIC responded in record time: pound sand.
PJM promptly sent a second FOIA request. That was in early October. We’ve had no response.
This is far from the only case.
PJM’s J. Christian Adams, who broke the selective enforcement of the Voting Rights Act in the Department of Justice story, dropped another bombshell in February of this year. It seems the DoJ has been very selectively complying with FOIA. As Adams wrote then:
Eric Holder’s Justice Department has even politicized compliance with the Freedom of Information Act. According to documents I have obtained, FOIA requests from liberals or politically connected civil rights groups are often given same-day turnaround by the DOJ. But requests from conservatives or Republicans face long delays, if they are fulfilled at all.
It was so bad PJM finally sued under FOIA — perhaps the first time a conservative new media outlet has done so.
For an administration which has touted “openness” left and right, the pattern would be amusing — if it weren’t so frightening.
According to the Associated Press:
People requested information 544,360 times last year under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act from the 35 largest agencies, up nearly 41,000 more than the previous year, according to an analysis by The Associated Press of new federal data. But the government responded to nearly 12,400 fewer requests.
But that’s not even the money quote. Apparently the White House won’t even respond to open records requests about its open records program!
The Obama administration censored 194 pages of internal e-mails about its Open Government Directive that the AP requested more than one year ago. The December 2009 directive requires every agency to take immediate, specific steps to open their operations up to the public. But the White House Office of Management and Budget blacked out entire pages of some e-mails between federal employees discussing how to apply the new openness rules, and it blacked out one e-mail discussing how to respond to AP’s request for information about the transparency directive.
At this point Issa’s committee is preparing to undertake hearings Thursday into the administration’s handling of FOIA requests.
Committee sources indicate those testifying may be in for a long morning.
“It’s easy to promise openness,” sources close to the committee said. “It’s quite another to deliver it. Because there’s daylight between the administration’s words and deeds, taxpayers deserve to know what’s standing in the way of a truly free FOIA.”
Let’s hope they can get some answers. While it’s obviously not possible to comply with every FOIA request, the sheer volume of refusals is troubling. More troubling still is the apparent tendency to favor requests from sympathetic agencies and groups.
An administration which slammed its predecessor for failing to comply with FOIA should have a substantially better record of compliance than those whom they hold in such contempt.
Openness of thee, blackouts for me! Its the community organizer way.
Well, this goes hand-in-glove with Nancy Pelosi’s claim that she was running the “most open” and “transparent” Congress in history. Sure, and pigs fly. I’m wondering when the American public will simply accept the fact that liberals always lie, they think we’re a bunch of dopes for believing their lies, and that lies can actually be transformed into national policy. The only abnormal thing about them is when they actually tell the truth from time to time.
So, Barack, how’s that Guantanamo Bay prinson thing working out for you, or the Patriot Act, or Rendition, or those Hellfire missile attacks that you’re so fond of? I wonder what the left-wing liberals have to say about that?
He has displayed a great deal of openess!
He has openly insulted Britain.
He has openly humbled himself before the Saudi king as well as Japan’s emperor.
He has openly sided with Mexico against Arizona.
He has openly called on blacks and latinos to join him against “their enemies”.
He has openly provided cover for BP, one of his big contributors when their unsafe drilling practices produced a catastrophe in the gulf.
He has openly pandered to GE, another of his big contributors on many occasions.
He has openly lied about hiring lobbyists, using signing statements, raising taxes, and respecting the second amendment.
He has openly stated his preference for “surrounding himself with communists”.
He has openly sat Sunday after Sunday for decades listening to(but claiming never to have “heard”) a racist demagogue condemning the US to damnation.
He has openly chosen to see his SEIU thug buddy weekly, while never actually meeting roughly half of his cabinet.
He has openly called our soldiers “great photo ops,” and posed beside their flag draped coffins.
He has openly called for a “civilian security force as well funded and armed as the military”.
He has openly stated his preference to be president of China where despotism is accepted with less complaint than here.
The list goes on, but I need to go get another cup of coffee.
We have a thug in the white House and he is surrounded by thugs. What else can we expect from people like this.This country may not get over this regime!
Good story, and necessary, but;
We knew this was coming; We’ve been writing about this for years!
Getting pretty bad when you stonewall and politicise a FOIA request regarding stonewalling and politicization of FOIA requests.
funny …watching Charles SourKrauthammer do his pro obama “squissshy” retort on the FOX alstars. even Kristen Powers was more damning of the obama administration. Steve Hayes nailed SourKraut on it.
Looking for some kind of dig at Steve tonight.
Sunshine award indeed… Is anyone who follows the news outside of the NYT/alphabet-bubble media surprised? Obama is a serial lier (one of his more positive features), but his fawning sycophantic followers either don’t know it or, most likely, are in deep and perpetual denial. That there are still tens of millions of voters who fall into this rancid pool of willful ignorance is the frightening part. Influenced by a warped and deteriorating mainstream media that also nervously inhabits the muck, they will vote for him again *no matter what he does or doesn’t actually do*; and that behavior – with its predictably destructive effects on the country should they prevail – is little short of treason. Imagine a President Obama who isn’t constrained by concerns about re-election, and try to get a good night’s sleep. An extreme view? I think not.
Why shouldn’t we believe it’s the tip of the iceberg?
Once you cross the boundary of deceit and lawlessness, what’s the limit?
It’s not like there aren’t any precedents for what far left governments are capable of. Is there an example of one that stopped short of absolute control when they had the power to achieve it? Anytime? Anywhere?
When they fail to comply with a Congressional request, can we start calling them fascists?
DOJ have already ignored many requests from Congressional inquiries.
I used to believed that our form of government is like a self-righting ship – tip it over and it’ll come round and be floating as before and as good as ever.
I no longer believe this. I think this idiot in the White House is fully capable of stirring up a riot or two and calling for marshal law – suspending elections “until order is restored” – then continue to stir the pot. The past two years have been a real eye opener. You need look no further than the way ObamaCare was shoved down our protesting throats – to hear Pelosi declare with a wry laugh – “you have to pass the bill to see whats in the bill”. I knew then that we had lost and they had won. Never mind the last election – they can deal with some losses. Print more ballots with their favorite candidate – how the hell did Prince Harry win without such help?
We can’t give up but the playing field is tilted heavily in favor of Obama and the
Commies– er – Democrats.The current admin acts like it’ll never be held accountable for its dirty deeds. One can only surmise that ‘Plan A’ is exactly as I described – and no inquiries will ever root out the truth. Part of ‘Plan A’ is now taking hold – QE2 – the monetizing of the national debt. Our dollar is becoming more worthless each day. When other nations finally drop it as an international currency the sh*t will really hit the fan in earnest. Look for that to happen sometime this summer – possibly sooner.
If we have elections in 2012 I will be very surprised. All the indicators are in play that could well create a dictatorship in this country – and Obama no doubt sees himself as ‘The Benevolent One’.
You have a valid point.
Obama’s trying to turn the U.S. into a 3rd world economy. And by the 2012 elections, we’ll be a 2nd world economy. The Democraps (sic) will say he’s needed to help turn the country around, and we have to vote for him to find out what’s in him.
(And he’ll turn the country around 360 degrees, and march us further into economic devastation.)
When they fail? More like “When do they comply?” The number of stories I’ve heard of congressional investigators being told where to head in are legion.
Same thing happened to Issa’s folks on the whole stimulus sign mess.
Patrick
Obama has always been a pathological liar. It is an absolutely intrinsic part of who and what he is. He could no more stop the continuous stream of lies, than he could detach his own head or leg.
I stopped listening to anything he says, because it just doesn’t matter what he says. It’s all lies, from top to bottom. It is a complete waste of time asking him any questions, or listening to any of his speeches or announcements. That is as much a waste of time as repeatedly digging a ditch, and then filling it up again. There is just no point to it.
And it is also a complete waste of time fretting and debating, for the 352nd time, as to whether he might possibly be lying, or if he is a liar. I have more important things to try to debate, such as if the sun is hot, or if dogs bark, or if babies cry.
I think the MSM “journalists” must be getting pretty fatigued by now, in their relentless and increasingly desperate attempts to somehow, somehow either cover up the 50 or 60 blatant and insulting whoppers that Obama says each day, or to strain to twist, reword and mold his blatant lies until they sound reasonable enough for a percentage of the American people to believe. That’s hard work that they voluntarily do every day, for no additional pay.
there has never been any openess with obama and the dems…his candidacy was a shell game…we have been had, enthusuasticaly lied to by people who dont play bt or respect the rule book…they are going to take this country over by any means necessary
JustAl @ 3:
To paraphrase Takuan Seiyo: ‘His bow was that of a broken backed toilet attendant bowing to his ultimate master.’
Yup, ’bout right.
This is a really incomplete article. Just a few statistics that put things in perspective. Under Bush – year 2006 there were 494,546 requests, and 178,837 backlogged. The backlog under bush increased, which is funny because the requests decreased throughout his time in office. Obama on the other hand – had 597,000 request in 2010, and a backlog of 70,000. He started with a backlog of 130,000 his first year, and the request have been increasing. The numbers do not back up the proposition of this article. If the author had bothered to do a modicum of research it would have been clear. So he has been true to his word in that he is making FOIA run better, but it takes time to fix a broken system.
The devil, of course, is in the details, which apologists never bother to look at.
Obama’s administration is in fact even more secretive. First because they are quite selective in which requests they comply with. Second because they have repeatedly and without explanation told congressional investigators “screw you, we ain’t gonna do it.”
I have reliable reports they have also bullied Inspectors General. Moreover when they do comply with a FOIA or congressional request there is an about 90% certainty they will give you so much information that you cannot process what you’re given.
I’ve had to personally deal with these people on a regular basis. So, until such time as you have had 400 pages of documents sent to you in spreadsheet form for a request of a very specific nature, may I respectfully suggest you don’t know what you’re talking about.
Patrick
First, thank you for the response. However, I am not an apologist, but a pragmatist. To begin with, I am thinking you are not a particularly unbiased source. You are correct in your assumption that I have never been on the end of a FOIA dump. On a practical sense, if you were not looking through the spreadsheet, someone on the administrative side would be trying to pinpoint the more precise information you were seeking. I am equally confidant that you have never had to process a FOIA request. I however get training for such a task at a city agency. Just because you got more information than you sought does not mean the action was nefarious; that is just the slant you choose to put on it because it fits into this bias you have against the administration. This is not to say I am satisfied with the transparency of the Obama agency. I think it could be much better, but that does not mean I do not think it is an improvement on the last administration. They are having to rebuild a program that Bush cut funding for. I think criticism is good, but I am reserving final judgment for a year four, after this newer implementations have time to take effect.
The Tea Party will have some new material for their protest signs. It think they are due for a protest…to remind people…there is ‘corruption’ and ‘fraud’ prowling about in this Administration. Probably far more than his predecessors…
PJM there is more than one way to skin a cat, J O’Keefe has taught us that…
It’s sad that the MSM has not made an effort to report on this the way they would have if it were George W. Maybe, this is why readership is down across the country. Only the WSJ shows readership up.
We should question newspaper editors about this.
No matter what side of the political spectrum one resides in, you really have to take your hat off to the people who do the legwork on such issues and devote so much attention to them.
In a country full of headlines about the new haircuts of a celebrity the people behind the scenes help our Democracy run.
Transparent? Transparency? (said like the Coors commercial with coach Mora PLAYOFFS?)
Folks barry soetero has been a liar from the start. I am shocked not one media estate asked why his first executive order (#113489)signed within 24hrs. of being sworn in blocked his entire past history. DOES ANYONE think that is unusual? A gnat’s brain is big enough to know that is NOT transparency. Now as the liar-in-chief with every public appearance his lips move & falsities spill from his mouth like toxic waste. To think we have not one leader in DC that will investigate this impostor. The constant off record agreement he is ineligible by Constitutional qualifications and NOBODY gives a rip even though they all swore to uphold the Constitution. Time for “we the people” to demand rule of law.
He carried it off the first time, but do you think he will win a nomination
for another term without REAL proof of citizenship,and an explanation of the phony Social Security numbers,Fool me once….
OBAMA
Openness (deception) Transparent (illusion)
Tricks of the master magician.
The crucial elements of all magicians is the ability and cunning to impose his cryptic style upon the gullible, exploit their weakness and prejudice. Praise those that are boisterous and arrogant. Once addicted to this exaggerated power, his phony, and pathetic acts, will never be challenged. He noe has absolute power to lie, deceive, and exploit his army of believers.
Noe he can release his army of boisterous, deplorable, rabid and repugnant followers loose to do his bidding. The poltroo that he is, will lurk in the background, to save his precious delusions of
integrity,openness and transparency. Obama, if the shoe fits—wear it.
That, almost eighty years after the traitor, Roosevelt and his so richly Soviet-agent larded “administration” and stacked fiat “courts” made it so, there is a single “educated” commentator of any political stripe who doesn’t yet get it that America’s “Democratic” party-activist, self-anointing, self-appointing (cloning) and self-perpetuating permanent public service is probably the worst enemy our nation has ever or will ever face. And that if Foggy Bottom’s basta*d-offspring of the Soviet-agent, Alger Hiss et al-descended brahmanas and that obscene clique’s carefully cloned Foreign(er Service(ing) clucks are included in the mix, there is no “probably” about it.
Last November’s whispered warning and the Battle of Wisconsin, won last week, must be only as if the shots heard around the world if We, The (Sovereign American) People (AKA the TEA-party movement) are to ever regain ownership operation and control of our beloved fraternal republic.
But an informed and knowledgeable few scribes on our side of the divide would help.
I remember during the ’08 elections, we had a Lefty posting here about Afghanistan. He said, “These are just the lies he has to tell to get elected.” He was totally okay with that.
Folks here make the mistake that the Leftist Media have a problem with his lying. They do not. Leftists lie. It is what they do. They have no compunction about doing so. None. Lies. Slander. Smears. It’s all okay to them. There is only power, and they need their fix.