Blue Hog gets a win in Freedom of Information action against city of Little Rock
Blue Hog gets a win in Freedom of Information action against city of Little Rock
A report from Blue Hog Report author and lawyer Matt Campbell on a hearing today before Circuit Judge Chip Welch on Campbell’s appeal of the city’s failure to comply with the Freedom of Information Act in response to numerous document requests, including some concerning Mayor Frank Scott’s aborted LITfest, which imploded amid concerns about contract irregularities and cronyism. Reports Campbell:
Deputy City Attorney showed up and told the judge the city admitted that it had violated the FOIA as to all of my requests. They noted, correctly, that they have been working over the past week to try to get everything caught up in the FOIA department and to get me everything I requested. Including a flash drive that they brought today, they are up to 5 of the 13 that have been fulfilled, I believe. Maybe 6.
The most noteworthy thing is that Judge Welch didn’t let them just slide with “we’re providing records now.” They have to provide responses every two days, at minimum, unless there’s a large request and I agree to give them an extra day. Any failure to comply with that two-day time frame is going to get Frank Scott a show-cause order to come in and explain why the judge shouldn’t hold him in contempt for the city’s failure to provide records.
It appears you have to sue to get the Scott administration to comply with state law. I’ve gotten nothing but silence from his chief of staff, Kendra Pruitt, to requests for letters she sent to LITFest sponsors after the event was canceled. Nothing on something as simple as pay and job assignments of two workers in City Hall. I got only a heavily redacted contract with a city facility for the canceled headline act for LITFest. There’s as yet been no report on money raised and spent by the firm hired to stage LITFest, a firm that employees the mayor’s former chief of staff, Charles Blake.
Understand that though FOI requests now flow through the city attorney, Kendra Pruitt had retained oversight of the process through city employees and seems to have been instrumental in blocking some of them. It also has become apparent that a lack of a records retention policy has given rise to erasure of text and email records to keep them out of the hands of the public.
I think there is a reason for the dogged fight for secrecy by the Scott administration. Openness might reveal more cronyism, at a minimum, along with his broader efforts to subvert city government with mayoral power that doesn’t currently exist under our manager/council/strong mayor government blend. Unfortunately for him and his inability to work with the City Board, its approval is required for the legal adoption of most major items of business.
A report from Blue Hog Report author and lawyer Matt Campbell on a hearing today before Circuit Judge Chip Welch on Campbell’s appeal of the city’s failure to comply with the Freedom of Information Act in response to numerous document requests, including some concerning Mayor Frank Scott’s aborted LITfest, which imploded amid concerns about contract irregularities and cronyism. Reports Campbell:
Deputy City Attorney showed up and told the judge the city admitted that it had violated the FOIA as to all of my requests. They noted, correctly, that they have been working over the past week to try to get everything caught up in the FOIA department and to get me everything I requested. Including a flash drive that they brought today, they are up to 5 of the 13 that have been fulfilled, I believe. Maybe 6.
The most noteworthy thing is that Judge Welch didn’t let them just slide with “we’re providing records now.” They have to provide responses every two days, at minimum, unless there’s a large request and I agree to give them an extra day. Any failure to comply with that two-day time frame is going to get Frank Scott a show-cause order to come in and explain why the judge shouldn’t hold him in contempt for the city’s failure to provide records.
It appears you have to sue to get the Scott administration to comply with state law. I’ve gotten nothing but silence from his chief of staff, Kendra Pruitt, to requests for letters she sent to LITFest sponsors after the event was canceled. Nothing on something as simple as pay and job assignments of two workers in City Hall. I got only a heavily redacted contract with a city facility for the canceled headline act for LITFest. There’s as yet been no report on money raised and spent by the firm hired to stage LITFest, a firm that employees the mayor’s former chief of staff, Charles Blake.
Understand that though FOI requests now flow through the city attorney, Kendra Pruitt had retained oversight of the process through city employees and seems to have been instrumental in blocking some of them. It also has become apparent that a lack of a records retention policy has given rise to erasure of text and email records to keep them out of the hands of the public.
I think there is a reason for the dogged fight for secrecy by the Scott administration. Openness might reveal more cronyism, at a minimum, along with his broader efforts to subvert city government with mayoral power that doesn’t currently exist under our manager/council/strong mayor government blend. Unfortunately for him and his inability to work with the City Board, its approval is required for the legal adoption of most major items of business.
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