Thursday, May 31, 2007

Kyl Revealed as the Anonymous Senator

An anonymous hold on a bill that would remove the shroud of secrecy that perpetually engulfs Washington, D.C. machinations has finally been claimed - by none other than the Junior Senator from Arizona.

Kyl revealed his name Thursday, days after the bill's backers launched an e-mail and telephone campaign, urging their supporters to help in "smoking out 'Sen. Secrecy.'" They pointed out the irony that an open government bill was being blocked using a rule that allowed secrecy.

Supporters say the bill would plug loopholes in the FOIA law by, among other things, clarifying when federal agencies would have to pay attorney's fees if they miss deadlines to provide information, and bolstering deadlines for the government's response to requests under the law.

The Justice Department objects strenuously to several provisions. Chief among them is a section that would eliminate exemptions allowing the government to deny access to privileged or law-enforcement sensitive information.

linkage
Major kudos to the bloggers who had a big hand in "smoking out" Senator Secrecy. SusanG over at DailyKos led an effort at that blog, as well as la gente buena at PorkBusters.

Now which journalist do you think will earn a batch of galletas de azucar rosa for asking Kyl why he's afraid of having the light shown directly into the cucaracha nest?

[...]

I couldn't think of anyone either.

[UPDATE] Here is the contact information for Kyl's offices, demand that he stop stalling the "Open Government Bill" - as always, be polite ;-)
Online Contact Form link
Phoenix Office: (602) 840-1891
Tucson Office:
(520) 575-8633
Washington, D.C. Office:
(202) 224-4521
[UPDATE the 2nd] Apparently this is a different bill than the one targeted by SusanG and Porkbusters - what's with the GOP and their cowardly tactics to stall legislation?

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