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donal brown

Texas Open Meetings Act ruled constitutional

donal brown March 28, 2011

A federal district judge upheld the Texas Open Meetings Act in a case in which city council members from 11 cities joined to claim that the law violated their right to free speech. The judge rejected their reasoning citing “the compelling interest in governmental transparency.” The plaintiffs has claimed that the law was overreaching and vague making it impossible to interpret its meaning in conducting government business. -db From the Star-Telegram, March 25, 2011. Full

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Former federal prosecutor loses case over reporter’s sources

donal brown March 28, 2011

A federal judge ruled against a former federal prosecutor claiming a confidential source from the Department of Justice violated his privacy rights by talking with a reporter. In his decision the judge said that the former prosecutor could not prevail in his case against the Department of Justice (DOJ) because he needed to show that the department “willfully violated his rights” under the Privacy Act and that the person leaking information to the press was

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Republican group launches site to monitor Obama transparency

donal brown March 24, 2011

Crossroads GPS, a Republican advocacy group, is creating Wikicountability.org to crowdsource FOIA files from those who have successfully obtained those files from the Obama administration. The site intends to document the Obama administration’s poor record in fulfilling FOIA requests, showcase the administration’s wasteful spending and its record of meeting with such groups as unions and liberal journalists. -db From Politico, March 23, 2011, by Mike Allen. Full Story

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Critic of Citizens United asks for disclosure of political ad donors

donal brown March 24, 2011

The Media Access Project is asking the Federal Communications Commission to force political groups to release the names of donors for political ads. The Project claims that the Communications Act of 1934 allows the release of the names of those actually paying for the ads. The Project’s proposal would require that there be  on-air disclosures of donors who pay for more than a quarter of a television commercial’s budget or more than a third of

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California: Oakdale investigating allegations of open meeting violation

donal brown March 24, 2011

The Oakdale City Council and staff are investigating charges brought by the Chamber of Commerce that a new member of its tourism board held an unauthorized meeting and used the meeting to criticize the chamber and its chief executive officer. The board member denied that she had attacked the chamber and its chief officer and said the meeting was called  to make introductions of herself and another board member to hotel operators. -db From the

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