HEARTLAND—Those wondering “when will these public officials ever learn that public documents are PUBLIC?” have some champions in the cause today—The Edgar County Watchdogs.
Called up to Ford/Iroquois counties to investigate misdeeds on the part of the health department (long known across the state’s 102 counties as an agency whose funds are easy to abuse) in those counties (a joint venture), Kirk Allen and John Kraft raised the ire of two HD employees who apparently didn’t think they needed to abide by Illinois’ Freedom of Information Act law (5 ILCS 140), which states that in an effort to maintain transparency in Illinois’ many levels of governments, public bodies must turn over most public records. There are a few exemptions, but those usually pertain to personnel, health records and the like.
That’s part of what Doug Corbett and Julie Clark tried to claim when the EC Watchdogs began submitting FOIAs (along with another BS line, “unduly burdensome,” one that agencies have tried to pull with us until we get the Attorney General’s office onto them). When they were denied the records, the Watchdogs did the right thing, and took them to court. You can read all about it here.
We have to give props to the Paxton paper; ordinarily, when someone prevails against a government entity like this, they either don’t cover it, or make it appear as though the winning side (usually media, but sometimes a private individual; interestingly, the EC Watchdogs qualify as both) did something wrong in that they cost the county taxpayers expenses, such as the payout to the Watchdogs.
However, that’s not the case at all. The stubborn refusal to turn over documents that are clearly public information does cost the taxpayers in a situation like this, but it’s not the fault of the requester. It’s the fault of the public official(s) who refuse to turn them over in the initial request. No taxpayer should have to fund a person who’s that stubborn and ignorant of THE LAW. and, in the case of Corbett and Clark, now, they’re no longer funding them….they’re both GONE from their former positions.
So let this be a lesson to public officials: Don’t just blanket-deny those FOIAs. It could run you into some serious stigma…and cost you your job.