After reading our blogs you have probably figured out that movies and music are two of my biggest passions. Little Lies by Fleetwood Mac had a catchy chorus that you could sing over and over that went tell me lies, tell me sweet little lies, oh-no-no, you can’t disguise. I often find myself singing that song in my head when the time comes to write another blog. We have talked about PIRs (Public Information Requests) in our previous blog but nothing wrong with a reminder. What is the Public Information Act and what is a Public Information Request?  Well, the Texas Public Information Act assures that government entities give citizens access to information about what the public servants are doing on their behalf.  It is a way for citizens to hold their public officials accountable.   The Public Information Act Handbook can be found on the Texas Attorney General’s website and lays out the “how-to” to do open record requests. 

Several months ago during the election a mayday report was talked about and the DMN did a long article smearing a candidate running for mayor. We were curious about the report and had a friend put in a PIR request that reads: Full copy of 500 to 600-page report for Mayday Report DMN quoted Adams Lynch and Loftin found evidence – would like a copy of the evidence. DMN quotes Adams Lynch and Loftin interviewed 42 people – would like the list of the names of those interviewed? Would like a copy of the documents, photographs, audio, and video files analyzed by Adams Lynch and Loftin Based on the DMN article it is clear that the reporter received more than the 12-page report released to the public. I would like a copy of everything provided to the reporter. We received several items back from the city except the full report mayday report.

On May 25th, we received a letter stating that one of the files contains personal health information and the city would prefer to keep it confidential. They asked if we agreed to the redaction request however we did not see the response. Then on June 5th we received another letter asking us to clarify if we agreed to the redaction and to clarify which documents we were seeking. We wrote back on June 9th we would not agree to any redactions and they could send the request to the AG and for the second questions we responded with several items on the evidence list plus the following:

1. Full Final Mayday Report
2. During the investigation of the individuals involved in the Circa / Mayday the attorneys meet and interviewed city staff. There should be audio files/recordings, notes, or video footage of the individual interviews to document the investigation. We want the audio files/recordings/notes or video recordings of the individuals interviewed by Adams, Lynch, and Loftin PC
3. Docs from Gillette listed on the evidence list
4. Hinkel Emails listed on the evidence list

On July 3, we received another email that read “After further review of the requested information to ensure the City has located all the records responsive to your request, please note that one file responsive is considered to be a proprietary record and will be available in the City Secretary’s Office for viewing only.” In the items we were provided there is NO FULL MAYDAY REPORT so is that the proprietary record they want us to come view?

Summer happened and we were waiting on the AG response in regards to the request and still to this day (4 MONTHS LATER) the request status reads sent to AG for a ruling. We were curious why it was taking the AG office so long to review a request so we called them. Imagine our surprise when they said a ruling was issued on August 30th and lead us to a link on the website where we could read the ruling. It is now September 28th almost a month later and we have no response from the city that a ruling was even made yet and we still don’t have the FULL MAYDAY REPORT.

The city argued some information was considered to be confidential by law. Section 552.101 encompasses the doctrine of common-law privacy, which protects information that is (1) highly intimate or embarrassing, the publication of which would be highly objectionable to a reasonable person, and (2) not of legitimate concern to the public. The finding by the AG’s office read “Accordingly, the city must withhold the public citizen’s date of birth and the information we marked under section 552.101 of the Government Code in conjunction with common-law privacy. However, we find you have failed to demonstrate the remaining information is highly intimate or embarrassing and not of legitimate public interest. Thus, the city may not withhold the remaining information under section 552.101 in conjunction with common-law privacy.

What we find ironic is that the city council voted to release some of these documents or related documents at a city council meeting that benefited the mayor and his cronies during an election in order to smear a candidates reputation but now they are arguing something is intimate or highly embarrassing? The citizens date of birth or an insurance policy number is confidential? What would be really humorous is if the person they are referring to has their birthday on their Facebook page. If so, they can’t be to worried about their privacy.

SO WHERE IS IT? Where is the redacted file? Where is the complete MAYDAY report (500 to 600 pages)? Asking a senior citizen to come to city hall to review a document is ridiculous and it is there way of keeping us from the information that can simply be uploaded to the portal. Why is the city with holding the information after a ruling on August 30th? We are also waiting on the AG to tell us where they are on a ruling for the Universal document request which is now 8 months old.

We also had a friend submit a PIR inquiring about to to payments in the city expenditure list which is online. Two payments, to New Reunion Title for $555,706.44 and $817,956.83. What are the payments for, and what type of services would a city pay a title company that much for? It reads they sent it to the attorney. We are guessing they mean the city attorney but he may have a conflict of interest since the title company is located in his law office. My guess they will fight us on this one too.

We filed PIRs with multiple other city’s in the last month and had them all back in under 20 days, so WHAT IS FRISCO HIDING? RELEASE THE DOCUMENTS!

“Oh, what a tangled web we weave…when first we practice to deceive.”

― Walter Scott, Marmion