Melissa Davenport will tell you that the recent controversy surrounding Mayor Adrian M. Fenty’s unwillingness to disclose information about a variety of things, including the cost of his trip to Dubai, didn’t motivate the founding of the D.C. Open Government Coalition.
“Our effort is not pegged to any administration,” she told me earlier this week. “We happen to believe the best mechanism for holding the government accountable is openness.”
Residents agree. But often they lack the knowledge, financial resources or political clout to tangle with a powerful executive. It took Judicial Watch, a national group, to squeeze from the Fenty administration details surrounding his out-of-town junkets.
I regularly receive e-mails from people pleading with me to file Freedom of Information Act requests on their behalf or lamenting the fact that some government manager repeatedly refused to answer questions about an agency’s programs and budget. I tell them they have a right to know; the District government is their government. That’s not what they want. They want muscle, someone ready to do battle with or for them.
The D.C. Open Government Coalition might be their answered prayer.
Ron Susman, a former partner with the Boston-based Ropes & Gray law firm, with decades of expertise in freedom of information issues at the national and international levels, initiated the project. A District resident, he thought the city could benefit from having an organization focused principally on government transparency. Davenport, who until recently also worked in the law firm’s District office, provided pro bono services during that conceptual stage. She subsequently left the firm for a one-year “public interest fellowship” — although Ropes & Gray is providing her a stipend.
Davenport currently serves as executive director of the open government coalition. During the past few weeks, she’s met with a host of people from various communities — former D.C. Councilwoman Kathy Patterson, former president of the Federation of Citizens Association George Clark and the American Civil Liberties Union’s Fritz Milhauser — hoping to persuade them to join the crusade.
Noting that she wants a “cooperative relationship” with the government, Davenport intends to talk with someone in the Fenty administration before the group’s formal organizational meeting later this month.
“Our sense is that the District’s FOIA law is fine. By the letter, information should be pretty accessible,” Davenport said. “We want to be sure that there isn’t an automatic default of nondisclosure that essentially [translates to] ‘We will withhold unless you make us disclose.’ ”
Davenport said she’s unsure whether the coalition will provide legal assistance to residents and others who meet such government opposition. But it will be involved with “education, training and monitoring.” The coalition currently is developing a citizen’s guide to the FOIA.
Who wouldn’t be excited about the possibility of thousands of District residents educated and fully empowered to demand details of government action?
OK, well, maybe the mayor won’t be so thrilled.
