The Access Across America Part II has begun!

Joey Senat from Oklahoma has talked to groups in Kansas City, Iowa, Ohio, Indiana and Michigan, and I talked to folks in Phoenix and Los Angeles. We have more stops coming up this week in San Francisco, Bellingham, Wash., and trainers in other regions are finalizing their schedules.

Check out a one-minute video Joey put together about the tour, at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I05ol53N8DY&list=HL1340470367&feature=mh_lolz

I’ve been thoroughly impressed with the questions and comments from people. Citizens and journalists care about government transparency and improving their document skills!

San Francisco — On Saturday I stayed in this great city to attend the Region 11 SPJ conference, giving an access session with Jodi Cleesattle. The session went well, bolstered by some incredible players.

LoMonte

Frank LoMonte, executive director of the Student Press Law Center, attended the session and provided some insightful comments. SPJ President Kevin Smith also attended.

Tip No. 5: Frank mentioned a great tip during the discussion. When you ask for a record and the agency says they don’t keep records about that, then focus on the fact they don’t keep records. I call this the “Um, well, that’s interesting…” technique. Let’s say you ask a university for the motor pool records – who all has checked out vehicles, for how long, where they go, why, etc. The university tells you, “sorry, we don’t have such records – we don’t track that.” Then you say, “Ummm, well, now THAT’S interesting. Really? You don’t keep track of your fleet of cars? So anyone can be doing anything with your taxpayer-funded vehicles and you would never know? Hmmm, I see a story here.” Then do a story about that. Now, usually as you are doing your interviews for this story (“Excuse me, Madam Legislator, did you know the university doesn’t track its vehicles?”), the agency figures out that it doesn’t want to look like it’s a poor steward of tax dollars so then they all of a sudden discover they do have the records after all.

The conference was impressive. Brant Houston, former director of Investigative Reporters and Editors, presented a session. Impressive to get such big names as Frank and Brant, who don’t live in the region. But then, who wouldn’t want to come to San Francisco, especially when the weather is gorgeous? Some outstanding people within the region attended as well, including Sally Lehrman, Paul McMasters (former SPJ president and longtime First Amendment proponent), Peter Sussman, and many others.

Up next: After my session I drove to Redding, Calif., amazed at the green hills this time year, and Sunday I’m heading to Eugene, Ore., for a day of catching up. On Monday I visit the Corvallis paper and the Oregon SPJ chapter in Portland.

Hanford, Calif. — Finishing the week out on Friday, Day4, I chatted with reporters from the Hanford Sentinel and then drove to San Francisco to attend the Region 11 SPJ conference.

From left, Hanford Sentinel reporter Joe Johnson, Eiji Yamashita, and Managing Editor Jon Earnest.

The Sentinel staffers were great, plugging away at this small daily that covers farm country in the central valley. Eiji Yamashita just won an award for uncovering shenanigans by the city attorney. Public records helped show how he was getting paid much more than he should as a contract attorney, among other issues.

Tip No. 4: Reporter Joe Johnson asked about what to do when agencies hide everything under “personnel” or “privacy.” This is a huge problem today, even when public employees are disciplined for really bad stuff. In most states, if the public interest outweighs the employee’s privacy then you have a good shot at getting it. Argue the public interest. Also, use a basic sniff test: If the average person would be appalled at the secrecy, then you’ll have a good opportunity to get the records. For example, when The Seattle Times wanted records of when coaches were disciplined for inappropriate relations (including sex) with their high school athletes, the teachers union argued that disclosure of the information would invade the coaches’ privacy. That is simply laughable. Which is what the public did, as well as the courts. The Times did a great piece about coaches who prey. It’s just common sense.

Had a great time tonight at the beginning of the regional conference. SPJ President Kevin Smith is here. He’s so passionate about journalism it really is fun to be around when he starts talking about it.

Also, we saw a rough cut of the upcoming documentary about Jayson Blair, “A Fragile Trust” by Samantha Grant. The film is expected out in a year. Samantha actually interviewed Blair, as well as the reporter he plagiarized that blew the scam open (Macarena Hernandez). It should be required viewing for all journalism students, and interesting discussion fodder for pros. Learn more about the documentary at the Facebook site.

Saturday: Short presentation on the Art of Access with Jodi Cleesattle and then off to drive to Redding on my way to Oregon.

Bakersfield, Calif. – On Thursday, Day 3, I headed out of San Diego by 4 a.m. to get through L.A. before rush hour, driving north to the Bakersfield area. Good thing I left early because I nearly got stuck in a snowstorm!

Snow dusted The Mountain Enterprise Thursday in Frazier Park, Calif.

In the 4,000-foot pass between L.A. and Bakersfield the snow came down hard, causing cars to slide off the road and the authorities to close the freeway. A big change from the 97-degree heat in Phoenix a few days before. While cars skidded around I took a quick detour deeper into the mountains to visit The Mountain Enterprise in Frazier Park.

This weekly publication, circulation 3,000 or so, is a feisty community paper. Sure, it has the typical local coverage you expect in a weekly (my favorite was the story on the upcoming cow-pie bingo, which brought back fond memories of when I was in the Future Farmers of America in high school).

Gary Meyer, Patric Hedlund and a few other staffers work their tails off holding those in power accountable to the residents in this unincorporated area of Kern County. For example, in today’s issue, they write about the school district’s sloppy tracking of student funds (see story). They use public records to expose an important issue. It goes to show that ANY newspaper, no matter how small, can do outstanding work using public records.

Tip No. 3: Look through your school district’s expenditures of student body fees to see how the money is being spent. Is it spent directly on students or other stuff to cover school deficits?

This is what journalism is all about. If those few folks weren’t there, the 10,000 people in that area would have no voice. They would have no way to challenge authorities who abuse their power or misuse their money. For these journalists, it’s not just a job – it’s their community. It reminds me of my hometown weekly that gave me my start in high school, shooting pictures, covering prep sports and writing the cops blotter.  The Mountain Enterprise office was right out of The Shipping News (great movie – rent it!). They even had an office dog, Joey (they call him their “news hound”).

Joey, The Mountain Enterprise "news hound"

After visiting Frazier Park I drove to Bakersfield and had a wonderful session with the news staff of the 50,000-circulation Bakersfield Californian. These reporters knew their stuff. They demonstrated true commitment to go to the wall for open government.

Friday: A visit with the Hanford, Calif., newspaper, then on to San Francisco for the SPJ region 11 conference.

San Diego — Wednesday, Day 2, I crossed into California and had the honor of talking with outstanding journalists at the Imperial Valley Press in El Centro and in the SPJ San Diego pro chapter.

Cleesattle

For the chapter session, which included more than 40 people, Jodi Cleesattle helped out by explaining some of the nuances of California public records law. Jodi is on the SPJ national FOI Committee, is a former journalist, former media law attorney, and now works for the state AG’s office. Jodi and I will do another session Saturday at the region 11 SPJ conference in San Francisco (Jodi is also the Region 11 Director for SPJ – wow!). California is lucky to have her!

One topic that consistently comes up in these access training sessions is how to deal with outrageous copy fees.

Cleesattle explains the law at the San Diego pro chapter session Wednesday night. The chapter taped the session at KGTV so members can watch it for newsroom brown-bag lunches.

One person said some agencies are charging 25 cents or 50 cents a page to make a photocopy. Another reporter said an agency wanted to charge $100 an hour for a programmer and tens of thousands of dollars in “server time” to copy data.

Don’t accept these costs, especially in California where the law states copies should be “reasonable” and that agencies can’t charge for searching, retrieval or redaction time. Just the copies.

Tip No. 2: Here’s what I provide in the handouts that might help you get what you need for little or no money:

1. Don’t ask for copies. Look at the documents for free. In most states an agency can’t charge for search fees, only for copies (check your state law).
2. Narrow the request to just the few pages that you really need.
3. Ask for a fee waiver as a researcher using the information for the public good (federal FOIA provides waivers for journalists, researchers, etc.).
4. Take photos or use a portable scanner (about $100).
5. Ask for electronic files on CD or e-mailed for free.
   

   Richard Montenegro Brown, assistant editor at the Imperial Valley Press in El Centro, Calif., leads a great crew of reporters.

6. Ask the agency for an itemized list of expenses to justify the costs. Here is what I consider reasonable: Add paper (.7 cents per page based on a box of paper from Office Depot), machine depreciation (.2 cents per page based on a Xerox WorkCentre 5225 that costs $4,299 and produces 75,000 copies a month), and toner (.6 cents per page), and  you get 1.5 cents per page. Call it an even 2 cents per page and the agency is still making a 25 percent profit margin.
7. Question high staff search fees, if in a state where that is charged – $100 per hour is equivalent to paying someone $208,000 a year to make copies.
8. Request to see a copy of the contract the agency has with a copy company. My employer pays a company less than a penny (.9 cents) per page to provide the machine, service it and refill the toner. It’s all in a contract, which is public.
9. Survey local agencies to compare typical costs and expose the unreasonable.
10. Survey citizens to find out what they consider reasonable. Most people will say 10 or 15 cents per page copy. If a profit-oriented store can charge that, then surely a non-profit public agency can charge less.
11. If the unreasonable charge is for computer programming, call the company that makes the software and ask them if copying data should be time consuming. They often say it takes a few minutes.
12. Publicize the unreasonable copy fees. Find out if an agency provides free copies to lawyers or commercial requesters but overcharges citizens. Contact elected officials. Blog about it.
13. Team with other requesters to share the bill. Request the request logs to see who else requests records frequently from the agency.
14. Ask an ombudsman or state attorney general to talk sense into the agency.
15. Sue or lobby for laws specifying reasonable fees.
    

    Sand dunes on the Arizona-California border near Yuma reminded me of how important water issues are in the West. Not to mention nationally (check out The New York Times series on drinking water quality - incredible work gathering government data. Just Google NYT and "Toxic Water").

Tucson, Ariz. — On Tuesday the tour starts with two stops in Arizona, then on to California for visits in San Diego, Bakersfield, and San Francisco. I’ll put more details below for the week. If you look at the whole tour list a few posts down and you would like more details about a particular stop, or want to see if I can stop by your town, feel free to send me an e-mail at cuillier@email.arizona.edu.

Tuesday, April 27

• 11:30-1:30 Casa Grande Dispatch, Casa Grande, Ariz. (just for staffers)
• 6-8 p.m. Valley of the Sun SPJ chapter, downtown Phoenix. Open to the public. Free. See more details.

Wednesday, April 28

• 1-2 p.m. Imperial Valley Press, El Centro, Calif. (for staffers)
• 6:30-8:30 p.m. San Diego SPJ chapter, San Diego. Open to the public (free to members, $5 for non-members). See more information to RSVP.

Thursday, April 29

• 9-10 a.m. The Mountain Enterprise, Frazier Park, Calif. (for staffers)
• 2-4 p.m. Bakersfield Californian, Bakersfield, Calif. (for staffers)

Friday, April 30

• 9-10 a.m. Hanford Sentinel, Hanford, Calif. (for staffers)

Saturday, May 1

• 3:30-4:40 p.m. SPJ Region 11 conference, San Francisco. See more details.