Tegan Millspaw: On transparency, Obama is worse than Bush

SOURCE: WASHINGTON EXAMINER

After President Obama's criticisms of transparency under the Bush administration, he created Freedom of Information Act guidelines that were supposed to "usher in a new era of open government." His administration was going to work "in a spirit of cooperation," and "unnecessary bureaucratic hurdles" would be removed.

Unfortunately, his administration is quickly becoming more secretive than Bush's ever was.

In documents returned from requests, more information is blacked out (often incorrectly or illegally), and there are far more flat-out denials. The Bush administration might have taken months or even years to respond to a FOIA request, but the Obama administration is more likely to just say no, or claim that it is incapable of even finding records.

Take the Department of Housing and Urban Development. In five separate requests, HUD said its records system was so unorganized finding anything was impossible. One FOIA officer even claimed that she had never heard of ACORN, even though HUD has been responsible for giving the organization millions of dollars in grants.

The Obama administration is also very fond of stonewalling. In a request to the Department of Justice regarding Attorney General Eric Holder's investigation of Dick Cheney and detainee abuse, DOJ closed the request by claiming it was too broad.

The request was extremely specific. Also, agencies are supposed to ask for clarification instead of just saying no.

Click to read more...