The Michigan State Police demanded $6.8 million to process a Freedom of Information Act request from my organization in 2009.

A federal inspector general had flagged problems with the agency’s spending of federal homeland security grants, so we asked for documents detailing how much money the police received and how they spent it. We thought it was a simple request, but the bill was bigger than my organization’s entire budget. We dropped the request, and to this day, Michiganders are still in the dark about how a crucial part of their government acted.