Strengthening access

Illinois' Freedom of Information Act has been transformed by toomany public officials and agencies into a farcical game of dodge-and-duck, and we welcome Attorney General Jim Ryan's attempt tostrengthen it.

The law was intended to assure public access to publicinformation. A recent joint investigation by 15 news organizations,however, found many local officials ignoring, mocking, eventhreatening people who request public records. Ryan now intends toreview FOI laws in other states and within six weeks come up with aproposal for strengthening the Illinois act, perhaps includingcriminal penalties for violations. Ignoring the law currently doesnot even count as a criminal offense, which makes the law itselfnonsensically unenforceable.