CRS reports - action needed

From Open the Government --

Policy and News Updates for March 20, 2007

[new] Accessing Congressional research
American taxpayers spend nearly $100 million a year to fund the Congressional Research Service (CRS), an arm of the Library of Congress whose 700 researchers provide reports to members of Congress on a variety of topics relevant to current political events. However, these reports are not open to the public. The best way for the public to obtain a CRS report is through their member of Congress, but the process is slow and it requires that the requester know the report exists.

On March 28, coalition partners of OpenTheGovernment.org, along with the Center for Democracy and Technology and others, sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi [D-CA], the Senate Rules Committee, and the Committee on House Administration asking that CRS reports be made available to the public. According the letter, "Public demand for these reports has never been higher. In a little more than a year, members of the public have downloaded more than 3.5 million CRS reports from OpenCRS.com, a Web site that provides a searchable database of CRS reports that have been obtained by various archivists and members of the public."

Making CRS reports available to the public makes sense. According to the letter, "CRS already maintains a fully searchable, password-protected Web site for members of Congress... Increasing capacity and providing public access to that site would constitute a trivial expense for the Library of Congress or for the House in light of their current levels of traffic." As Paul M. Weyrich, Chairman and CEO of the Free Congress Foundation, notes in a commentary piece, "The proliferation of free information online has only strengthened the argument that CRS also should offer free information."

Focus has turned to CRS recently, due to two memos CRS Director Daniel P. Mulhollan issued noting changes in CRS policies. On March 20, Mulhollan issued a memo to all CRS staff saying, "I have concluded that prior approval should now be required at the division or office level before products are distributed to members of the public. This policy is effective immediately." In the past, it was possible for members of the press, other researchers, and other government officials to request specific reports from the congressional support agency. However, as Secrecy News reports, this memo changes that policy. A staffer told Secrecy News, "We're all sort of shaking. I can't do my work."

In addition, some members of Congress have criticized CRS for its recent decision to stop its reports on earmarks. In a Wall Street Journal Editorial titled "Earmark Cover-Up", John Fund accuses CRS of "helping its masters hide wasteful spending." Despite requests from Sen. Coburn [R-OK] and Sen. Jim DeMint [R-SC], a private Feb. 22 directive from Director Mulhollan states that, "CRS will no longer identify earmarks for individual programs, activities, entities, or individuals," ending its 12-year practice of reporting on earmark data. Mulhollan responded to the editorial in a memo to CRS staff and a letter to the editor, available through Secrecy News.

TAKE ACTION: Help add to the Open CRS collection! Call your member of Congress and request a PDF copy of the following CRS Report. Once you receive it, submit it to Open CRS.
Report Order Code: RL31686
Title: Demilitarization of Significant Military Equipment

Lots of news on government information

3/28 PPD, p. 2C. In the National subsection, a story headlined "Research firm sues to see auto safety data", is about a group that studies tire failures suing the U.S. Department of Transportation.

3/29 Strib, p. E4. in "News of the Weird", the first item describes a website being operated in Finland that allows voters to match their physical appearance with the appearance of candidates so they can vote for people who look like them.

3/30 Strib. p. A10. Story, headlined "Soldiers' VA cure hindered by lapses in use of digital medical data".

3/30 Strib. p. A12. Story, headlined "Interior official altered reports, inspector says", is about another instance of government reports being altered for political reasons. The story also describes release of confidential information to selected businesses.

3/30 PPD, p.1C. Story, headlined "Ridder's clear break scuffed" includes allegations that the new publisher of the Strib took confidential data from the PPD.

3/30 PPD, p. 1A. Story, headlined "St. Paul candidates join You Tube nation".

3/30 PPD, p. 7a. Story, headlined "Bush appointee altered species reports to benefit landowners", is the same story as described above but with a more direct headline.

3/31 PPD, p. 2C. Story, headlined "Technology 'xxx' hits red light again", is about defeat of a proposal to give pornography its own address on the web.

3/31 PPD, p. 1C. Story, headlined "Ridder says exit made in good faith", continues the saga of what Rider took from St. Paul to Minneapolis on his laptop.

4/1 PPD, p. 3A. Story, headlined "Bush fills attorney post with insider" is based on analysis of the resumes of new U.S. attorneys.

4/1 Strib. p. A9. Story, headlined "Many prosecutors had inside track", is the same as the Pioneer Press story mentioned above.

4/1 Strib. p. D1. Story, headlined "In a hurry for ultrafast Internet", is about the City of Eagan looking for high speed internet for the entire city including the possibility of laying fiber citywide.

4/1 Strib. p. B1. Nick Coleman's column, headlined "If Heffelfinger hadn't quit would he have been purged", is Coleman's take, using public e-mails, on the local effect of the U.S. attorney fiasco.

4/2 Strib, p. A11. Story, headlined "From cabarets in Cyprus to drivers in Qatar, dangers abound for Americans abroad, the State Dept. warns", is about a state department cataloging dangers of foreign travel, which is put up mostly for businesses, according to a spokesperson, but is available to anyone.

4/2 PPD, p. 2B. In the "Bulletin Board" feature is an item, headlined "Will the library let me borrow this book? It's 'TOO SOON TO TELL'", is about a technology twist in libraries.

Newspaper Stories Overview

3/22 PPD, p. 9B. Story, headlined "Railroad accused of destroying documents", is about the Canadian Pacific RR allegedly destroying documents and e-mails to avoid their being used in a law suit involving chemical spills in Minot, ND.

3/22 PPD, p. 2A. Story, headlined "Inefficiency curbs world food aid", is another government report documenting how poorly a government program to feed the hungry has been run for the last few years including a 43% drop in food delivered.

3/22 PPD, p. 5a. Story, headlined "Anti-Clinton online ad creator unmasked", is another demonstration of the power of the net and poor judgement of some of the young ones who are adept at using the net.

3/22 Strib. p. A1. Story, headlined "Huckleberry Finn wins first round in St. Louis Park", documents the latest attempt to censor Twain's classic.

3/23 PPD. p. 2C. In the "Technology" subsection there is a story, headlined "Net neutrality studied", about the beginning of an FCC study which will look at how to keep the net available to everyone.

3/23 Strib. p. B5. Story, headlined "Traffic camera bill hits red light", is about the photo cop bill dying (perhaps) in a House of Reps. committee.

3/23 Strib. p. B5. Story, headlined "Funding sought for program to protect battered women", is about another instance of a good program, protecting addresses of battered women, which has not been started because of lack of funding.

3/23 Strib. p. A1. Story, headlined "Doctors ties to drug firms raise concerns", is about reports that drug companies have been required to file with the state Board of Pharmacy describing payments to doctors and for what. It was only recently that anyone looked at the reports. The executive director of the Board is quoted in the article as saying that now that they know there is interest in the reports they may be posted on their web site. http://www.startribune.com/1244/story/1074012.html

2/24 Strib. p. A7. Story, headlined "Memo shows Gonzalez approved of Attorneys' firings", continues to show the importance of actual data in sorting out what our government is doing.
http://www.startribune.com/587/story/1076414.html

2/24 Strib. p. A6. Story, headlined "France's X-files - first country to put UFO sightings on a web site" is about another interesting use of the net.

2/24 PPD. p. 1A. Story, headlined "Gonzales, aides met to discuss firing attorneys", is similar to the Strib story noted above.

2/25 PPD. p. 2C. Story, in Technology subsection and headlined "Search suit dismissed" is about a lawsuit brought by a web site alleging Google intentionally designed its index to make the site difficult to find.

2/25 PPD. p. 1E. The Watchdog column has a story entitled "Travel Insurance" which includes commentary about how credit card companies monitor the uses of cards in real time.

3/19 PPD, p. 6B. This is David Broder's column, which is headlined "Accountability matters, but voters wanted a lot more than investigations", in which, among other things, Broder reports on changes to the federal FOIA [Freedom of Information Act.]

3/19 Strib, p. A3. Story, headlined "Smithsonian records show off curator's champagne lifestyle", demonstrates why public records that show how taxpayers money is spent must be public.

3/18 PPD, p. 14A. Story, headlined "Young woman's DNA points to an inevitably grim fate", is about the affect of DNA testing on actual individuals.

Government information in the news

PPD=St. Paul and Strib is Mpls Star Tribune

3/20, PPD, p. 1A. Story, headlined "E-mails shed new light on prosecutor firings", is the latest in the ongoing saga which, from an access perspective, demonstrates how important access is.

3/20, PPD, p. 1B. Story, headlined "Racial gap found in juvenile sentencing", once again shows how records can be used to identify racism in the criminal "justice" system.

3/21, PPD, p, 3A. Story, headlined "FBI data collection may have broken law up to 3000 times", is the latest chapter in this story about how law enforcement violates the law when it goes after information.

3/21, PPD, p. 6B. Story, headlined "Watchdog group faults drug company reporting", is about records on how much drug companies pay doctors and how little anyone notices.

3/21, PPD. p. 12B. Column, headlined "Brain becomes just another scannable, searchable body part", is about technology which scans how the brain works and potentially reveals much.

3/21, Strib, p. A1. Story, headlined "How much do drug companies pay doctors?", provides a little more detail about reports sitting at the state Board of Pharmacy which have been rarely used.

3/21, Strib. p. A6. Story, headlined "Six ranked in top third of prosecutions filed", is based on analysis of the actual performance records of the fired U.S. attorneys.

3/21, Strib. p. A9. Story, headlined "Law makers warn FBI it could lose broad spying powers because of abuse, is similar to PPD story described above but includes more details including an allegation that 600 of the record searches were because of misconduct.

3/21, Strib. p. A12. Letter to the editor, headlined, "Medical Records Bill. Redefines Privacy Right", is a letter describing a bill going through the legislature which the writer believes diminishes medical privacy.

Don G.

Sunshine Week in the News

We have seen quite a few mentions of Sunshine week in various media and web sites, including the following:

Minnesota Based Sites:

• http://www.pineandlakes.com/stories/031507/opinion_20070314022.shtml
  
• http://www.hometown-pages.com/main.asp?SectionID=26&SubSectionID=186&ArticleID=15418&TM=40973.78
  
• http://www.hutchinsonleader.com/node/1618

Hawaii

• http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070315/NEWS01/703150364/1001/NEWS

Charlotte Observer

• http://www.charlotte.com/sunshine
  
• http://www.charlotte.com/sunshine

News of Interest-St. Paul Pioneer Press & Star Tribune

Pioneer Press 3/11, p. 3B. Story, headlined "Bismarck, N.D. / NCAA can keep suit documents private", is about a judge's decision, in the lawsuit brought against the University of North Dakota by the NCAA, to make certain documents provided in the lawsuit by the NCAA not public. The article describes a publication of the North Dakota Attorney General's Office which summarizes the North Dakota public records law. http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/news/local/16878667.htm

Pioneer Press, 3/11, p. 4B. Story, headlined "Journalists petition for cameras in the courtroom", describes efforts by the media community to liberalize use of cameras in courtrooms. This is a Sunshine Week activity for the media.

Pioneer Press, 3/11, p. 2A. Story, headlined "Privatization Comes Under Fire", describes criticism of the company with ties to the Bush administration, that was managing some of the bad facilities at Walter Reed. Privatization almost always raises information access issues.
http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/news/nation/16878599.htm

Pioneer Press, 3/11, p. 5A. Story, headlined "South Korea reviews painful past", is about individuals in South Korea who, during the time of military dictatorship, were tortured into confessing to being subversives and who are now trying to clear their records.

Star Tribune, 3/11, p.AA2. This is a column by the Strib's reader rep, Kate Perry, entitled "It's time for more access to Minnesota's courts". It is about the petition submitted to the Supreme Court asking for changes to the rules about cameras in the court room.

Pioneer Press, 3/12, p. 3A. Story, headlined "Feds fall short on e-record access", is about a study, done by the National Security Archive in D.C., about how well federal agencies are doing with the amendments to the federal foia that were supposed to improve public access. In short, those agencies are not doing well.

Pioneer Press, 3/13, p. 3B. Story, headlined "High Court Explores Photo Cop Conflict", is about yesterday's argument before the Supreme Court about the legality of the Minneapolis photo cop ordinance.

Star Tribune, 3/13, p. B4. Story, headlined "Justices Drill Down on Photocop's Issues", is also about argument before supreme court.