Monday, July 21, 2014

ILLINOIS RESIDENTS WIN A LITTLE VICTORY - QUINN VETOES FOIA BILL

OPINION EDITORIAL
by Joseph Wiszowaty

Well I don't agree with Governor Pat Quinn on many things, however, he did the right thing by vetoing a piece of legislation that would have restricted people from filing Freedom of Information Act Requests.

To charge an ordinary citizen $100 for a request for information flies in the face of responsible government!  News media, such as myself, would have been exempt from the nonsense legislation, but ordinary citizens would have had to belly up the dough!

So GOOD JOB Governor Quinn!

Imagine, if people couldn't afford to fight city hall because in order for you to get your facts, you have to shell out $100 first!

I have sent in numerous FOIA requests such as the one which is with the Illinois Attorney General because the village has refused to honor Madigan's office's previous demand for Sauk Village to turn over all documents relating to the Travelgate Scandal.  This scandal has exposed Village Clerk Debbie Williams and her daughter Village Trustee Rosie Williams solicitation of what they called "donations" using taxpayer resources so they could take a "personal trip" to Washington DC last year!  So far the Illinois Attorney General begs to differ, this was not a "personal trip" and full disclosure was requested and .demanded in a non-binding opinion in March, 2014.

Good Job Pat Quinn... allowing private citizens access to information and exposing corruption is important!

No comments:

Post a Comment