Just before Xmas we ran a newslede about attorneys’ efforts to gain access to the contents of 20 cardboard boxes containing information about the city’s secret list program:
Arguments are yet to go before a judge, but attorney Spencer Hahn lodged a public records request with the Portland Police Bureau to get a look at the boxes, and guess how much they told him it would cost? Oh, that’s right, I stuck it in the title. Here’s Christopher Paille from the cops’ records division:
The estimated fee to process your request is approximately $3773.40. The estimated amount of time needed to review and redact the materials in one box is 3 hours. The estimated time it will take to review 20 boxes is 60 hours. The hourly review rate is $62.89. Please provide a deposit in the amount of $3773.40. If the actual fee to process your request is less than this amount, we will return your deposit and request payment of the lesser fee at the time of production.
The cops are saying they need to review all the information in the boxes to “redact” any information protected under public records law. There is, however, an exception to the requirement to pay for production of information, under Oregon law, and that’s when a journalist asks for it, making a compelling argument that the information is in the public interest. Well, consider it done, guys. Those boxes contain information that the public has a right to know, and an interest in knowing. That’s why we’ve been asking about the program since April.
“The hourly review rate is $62.89.”
Where do I apply for this job?
Seems a very reasonable charge to me. I don’t want my tax money spent to help out some hippy lawyer and a crappy reporter!
Spencer Hahn is no hippy lawyer. He is one of the smartest defense attorneys in Portland and chooses to work for one of the public defender offices in town. He acts in the interest of his clients, not himself.
Some of his clients, though he is not allowed to know which ones, are on a secret list that gives them different treatment from his other clients. Do we really expect public defenders to be able to fairly represent their clients when they don’t have all the information about how decisions are being made? This is a matter involving basic constitutionally protected rights and every person in this city should be worried about the precedent set by this secret list.
So I take it that “Davis is a JOKE!” is opposed to any Freedom of Information Act requests. It’s my understanding that any time someone specifically requests information from a governing body, it’s going to be submitted for review in advance in order to block sensitive information. This allows reviewers to redact the names of, say, secret agents or whistle blowers. Still, I don’t know if I find the article itself newsworthy; the subject itself is controversial, but I imagine that lawyers requesting information about a lot more mundane topics also receive letters like that. The PDC probably would’ve put $240k on a similar quantity of boxes.
What’s in the box!?