[I'm no expert on FOIA history (there are some on Politech and I urge them to chime in). But there seem to be two questions: 1. Is it appropriate to charge a fee to a non-news organization? 2. Is this fee reasonable? The answer to #1 is generally yes. The answer to #2 I'm not sure about. $203,436 seems high to me but it may be in line with FOIA precedents. --Declan] -------- Original Message -------- Subject: The 'free' in FOIA Date: Tue, 01 Mar 2005 14:54:35 -0500 From: Kelley <securitylists@private> To: Declan McCullagh <declan@private> Declan, I thought you might find this interesting: "Want to know how the current administration is spending your tax dollars? It'll cost you $203,436.75! That according to Max Sawicky http://maxspeak.org/mt/archives/001185.html He posted a .PDF file of a letter from the Social Security Administration to one Mr. Witold Skwierczynski, who requested documents related to meetings and appointments of Commissioner Barnhart, Deputy Commissioner Lockhart, and Deputy Commissioner Martin Jerry. So much for the 'free' in FOIA! See also: http://www.prospect.org/web/printfriendly-view.ww?id=9260 Lockhart and Barrel A top Social Security administrator is moonlighting as a partial-privatization lobbyist. By Rob Garver Web Exclusive: 02.25.05 <...> Best regards, Kelley -- When you need to communicate, Ink Works! http://www.inkworkswell.com Voice: +1 (727) 942-9255 Fax: +1 (727) 942-9659 Email: kelley@private _______________________________________________ Politech mailing list Archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ Moderated by Declan McCullagh (http://www.mccullagh.org/)
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