By Sara Burnett and Kara Spak
Daily Herald Staff Writers
September 12, 2005

MARK BLACK/DAILY HERALD

Wauconda Community Emergency Response Team member Sheryl Ringel finds a playing card during a drill in the Lakewood Forest Preserve designed to train civilians in search-and-rescue skills.

Want to find out for yourself what your local governments have done to fight terrorism?

Good luck.

Over a four-month period, the Daily Herald formally asked 127 municipalities, counties and fire districts, as well as the Chicago Transit Authority and Metra, to account for any money received or spent for anti-terrorism efforts since Sept. 11, 2001.

The responses - when received - were spotty at best.

Roughly one-third of the officials who received the requests said they weren't required to keep the information and were at a loss as to how to provide it.

Several places took more than three months to answer, despite a state law requiring public bodies to respond to requests for information within seven business days unless an extension is requested.

Three - Chicago, McHenry County and the Greater Round Lake Fire Protection District - refused to answer.

"I don't have to (respond) … and I really don't want to," Greater Round Lake Fire Chief Paul Maplethorpe told a reporter before adding, "Have a nice day," and hanging up.

McHenry County Assistant State's Attorney Michelle J. Courier said county workers attempted to fulfill the request, but were spending too much time "running from department to department" trying to determine who spent what.

"It's not the kind of document I can turn over," Courier added.

Chicago - which has received $65.8 million since 2002 - also refused to detail even general areas in which the money was spent.

The lack of information is a concern for open-government advocates, who argue the public has a right to know how its money is being spent.

"If they (government officials) know they can spend that money on whatever they want or whatever they think they need, and the public will never find out about it, where's the checks?" said Pete Weitzel, coordinator of the Coalition of Journalists for Open Government in Arlington, Va.

Weitzel acknowledged some information should be kept secret in the interest of national security. But he said he also believes releasing information about rigorous police training or new, high-tech equipment could help deter terrorists.

He also pointed to New Jersey, where a private tax watchdog group found homeland security money had been used to buy air-conditioned garbage trucks, and Nebraska, where officials bought lariats, electric cattle prods and portable cattle chutes, in case they need to herd infected cattle.

"When there's no accountability," Weitzel added, "that's when government gets into trouble."

The lack of information from specific agencies that refused to comply with the Daily Herald's request is being examined by Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan's office.

"We'll be in contact with each of the public information agencies that didn't comply" to the Freedom of Information Act request, said Terry Mutchler, assistant attorney general and public access counselor. Agency officials will be asked why they have not responded as state law requires, she said.

So how were your tax dollars spent? It's still not entirely clear.

Most communities eventually accumulated lists of items, though their records had varying degrees of information.

The Oak Brook Police Department, for example, provided a list of expenditures a staff member noted was "off the top of my head." The list included purchases of 14 M4 patrol rifles, as well as ballistic helmets and shields, but didn't include the items' cost, nor the dates or companies from which they were purchased.

Lake in the Hills initially reported spending roughly $450,000 on a fence for its airport. But that money came from the Federal Aviation Administration - not the Department of Homeland Security, and an airport official said it primarily was put up to keep deer off the runway.

Starting in April, reporters called the city of Chicago five times and mailed and faxed four copies of the request before receiving a letter on July 19. In it, Monique Bond, director of media affairs for the office of emergency management and communications, asked for a seven-day extension.

Three weeks later, Bond told a reporter the city could provide only an accounting of how much money it received - $65.8 million - but no information about where the money went, lest specifics tip off terrorists.

As of late August, officials with the Chicago Transit Authority - which has received some $7.5 million in federal funds - said they still were working on the request. Because of a backlog of requests and the sensitive nature of the information, freedom of information officer Olga Domchenko said she couldn't provide an idea of when the information would be ready.

After initially denying the same request, Metra, in early August, supplied a list of general areas in which it spent homeland security money, but declined to account for the total cost of each item, citing security concerns. The list included computer equipment, security awareness training and bomb detection dogs with handlers.

The freedom of information law requires governments to provide basic information about homeland security expenditures while not revealing precise information that might jeopardize safety.

A town that contracted for a security assessment of its water system, for instance, must turn over the cost of the assessment, what private contractor prepared the new security plan and when the plan was prepared. The municipality is not required to turn over the actual plan.

But even with these rules, government officials were hesitant to divulge any information about how they spent millions in tax dollars.

• Daily Herald staff writer Christy Gutowski contributed to this story.