Closed door meeting held in Washington on … Freedom of Information Act

This is truly priceless. On Monday morning the federal government held a closed door meeting on the Freedom of Information Act!

Then:

“The Freedom of Information Act should be administered with a clear presumption: In the face of doubt, openness prevails,” Obama told government offices on his first full day as president. “The government should not keep information confidential merely because public officials might be embarrassed by disclosure, because errors and failures might be revealed, or because of speculative or abstract fears.”

Now:

Obama  created yet another  new bureaucracy called the Office of Government Information Services which, according to Melanie Ann Pustay, director of the Justice Department’s Office of Information Policy, is supposed to take the lead on government openness issues.

One of it’s first “official” acts was to hold a meeting today for government employees behind closed doors.

Why was no press allowed?  According to Miriam Nisbet, director of this new bureaucracy, the event was closed:

to make sure there would be enough room for all the government employees attending.

What, not even one extra chair for a member of the press?

Update: Ed Morrissey picked up on this story and posted as his Obamateurism of the Day.

Posted in

SoundOffSister

The Sound Off Sister was an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and special trial attorney for the Department of Justice, Criminal Division; a partner in the Florida law firm of Shutts & Bowen, and an adjunct professor at the University of Miami, School of Law. The Sound Off Sister offers frequent commentary concerning legislation making its way through Congress, including the health reform legislation passed in early 2010.

1 Comment

  1. Dimsdale on December 7, 2009 at 6:56 pm

    Obama and his acolytes are walking personifications of hypocrisy, compounded by the lip service proffered by Obama during the campaign.  The "hope and change" has evaporated faster than his campaign promises; it is the same old same old.

     

    Their motto should be "Who are you going to believe?  Us, or your lying eyes (and ears)?"



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