Lawmakers consider overhauling public information laws

SPRINGFIELD - From suburban clerks requiring legal requests before releasing information about people running for public office to Rod Blagojevich's Capitol cronies refusing to turn over public hiring records, open government and media advocates said state laws on such information are increasingly toothless and ignored.

"I do not believe the Illinois Freedom of Information Act is worth the cost of the small fire it would take to burn it," Dave Bennett, executive director of the Illinois Press Association, told lawmakers Wednesday.

Bennett and Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan are among the officials urging those laws be overhauled and, for the first time, penalties be included for those who don't comply.

"There is no fear factor," Bennett said of the existing laws governing public information. Officials can deny requests and refuse to turn over documents with no fear of consequences, he said.

Bennett's comments set the tone for the first meeting of the Illinois General Assembly's Joint Committee on Government Reform. Supporters of the overhaul hope to use former Gov. Rod Blagojevich's scandals and removal from office as the opportunity to push for the changes.

Blagojevich's administration routinely refused to turn over documents its own agencies said were public records. Madigan called it a "culture of secrecy" that current lawmakers and officials have an obligation to change.

She said at every level of government it has been far too easy to withhold information.

Recently the Daily Herald hit hurdles when trying to get information on candidates who filed for local offices. That information is public, but while some agencies turned it over immediately, others required a legal request be filed, one that doesn't require disclosure for a week.

Roger Huebner, general counsel to the Illinois Municipal League, which represents local governments, said such inconveniences might be frustrating but they aren't violations. He said public irritation with access laws is often misdirected.

"We didn't create the law, the General Assembly created the law saying here is the procedure for public information," Huebner said.

That different government agencies interpret the laws differently speaks to how confusing the laws have become, he said.

He said he'd also support changes if the result was public information laws that made sense to people on both sides of the government counter.

However, Huebner questioned how a fine system would work.

There was no vote on any proposal Wednesday and the details of Madigan's plans have yet to be filed with lawmakers for official consideration.