Power of the paper trail: Xpress wants to hear from activists who harness government information

Posted on by Xpress staff

To celebrate the upcoming Sunshine Week — an annual salute to open government and freedom of public information — Xpress is collecting stories of how local citizens have pried info loose and put it to good use.

Sunshine Week is March 14-20, and Xpress plans to publish a series of profiles that week that will showcase how local citizens obtain government records, unveil official secrets and use the information to further their causes.

Have you or someone you know succeeded in getting public records that shine a light on public policy, abuse of power, or the inner workings of a government agency? Please tell your stories in the comment field below, or send them to dforbes [at] mountainx.com.

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5 thoughts on “Power of the paper trail: Xpress wants to hear from activists who harness government information”

  1. Chad Nesbitt

    David,

    How many stories with paper trails can I send you?
    Can video recordings count?

    Chad

  2. Angry Voter

    Tune in daily to 570 am at 3pm and listen to the various methods used by Matt Mittan to uncover government ‘information’…

  3. Jon Elliston

    Thanks, Chad,

    We’d be glad to look at videos, documents, you name it.

  4. Barry Summers

    A coalition of folks acquired County documents through the FOIA that related to the sale of parkland to Stewart Coleman, and the ensuing Parkside controversy. Among other things, we found that some County staffers actually preferred to see that property sold off for development long before Mr. Coleman came along.

    I believe they are still up for perusing on Scrutiny Hooligans.

  5. donyelton

    several years ago I made a foia request to Congressman Taylor’s office for the information on CTS. A resulting trip to Atlanta to EPA and copying files gave the basic information needed to confirm the cts coverup. Next a follow up request for the letters sent to the potential responsible parties (PRP) resulted in the damning information that Tate and Barry are using. Actually today I was informed that the officials were watching a recording of last nights show. Wonder why.

    Next a law suit was implemented against Buncombe County for access to records by myself, Peter Dauws and Mike Morgan.
    We won but had to pay our legal fees.

    Don Yelton

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