Dear Friend of the Maine Freedom of Information Coalition,

It’s that time of the year when we start to reflect on the past year. The Maine Freedom of Information Coalition has been very busy this past year and has accomplished much thanks to the support and encouragement of our members.  Some of the highlights include:

►Audits: The Coalition conducted a follow-up to its 2002 public access audit, with mixed findings. We surveyed 89 of Maine’s 489 municipalities using volunteer auditors requesting to view undischarged tax liens, clearly a pubic record. Only 53 of the 89 offices audited (59 percent) permitted access to those tax liens. It was not all bad news on the public right to access front. In 2002, police departments in Auburn, Biddeford, Fairfield, Freeport, Jay and Yarmouth denied public access to documents. In 2006, each department complied with auditors’ requests. You can read all about both audits at www.mfoic.org

►Legislation: Lawmakers were listening and legislation creating a permanent advisory committee of FOAA issues was created unanimously by the legislature. A lot of hard work both in the Judiciary Committee and with legislative leaders was needed to create the panel which will advise the legislature’s Judiciary Committee on FOAA matters.

The panel held its first meetings this fall and has recommended legislation that would create an ombudsman’s office to help the public with FOAA complaints and a measure that would mandate all elected officials receive training in state FOAA laws.

►Education:  The Coalition has always maintained that most FOAA problems are from a lack of understanding of the public records and public access laws. MFOIC has sponsored or participated in several training programs for police, public officials and reporters across the state. More training needs to be done and MFOIC is committed to improving understanding of the law.

As you can see, with your support we’ve shared many successes over the past year. Still, more must be done, and we hope that you’ll give a little extra, time or money, towards the cause of open government and the good work of the Coalition

Wishing you and yours all the best in the coming year,

Ethics code poll press release

Code of Ethics and Conduct audit

2007 annual report of Right to Know Advisory Committee: http://www.maine.gov/legis/opla/RTKRPT2006.pdf