Not Free-As-In-FOIA: $203, 436 for Social Security Admin. to disgorge files [fs]

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

[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 () inkworkswell com>
To: Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>

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

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Email: kelley () inkworkswell com


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