Findlay, IL – An Illinois-based government watchdog group says it's become very difficult for a regular citizen to recieve public records from their local governments. The Better Government Association says roughly 60% percent of recently audited agencies, such as cities, counties, and school districts, failed to comply with Freedom of Information Act requests. Investigator Dan Lombard says most of the entities failed because they did not even acknowledge the fact that John Q. Public was requesting the information. This past summer, the BGA sent out more than 400 FOIA requests. Lombard says the idea was to see how a regular citizen would do at receiving public information. Within the Tri States Public Radio listening area, roughly 65% of the agencies failed for various reasons. They include the Macomb and Havana School Districts, the Macomb and Carthage City Clerks, and the McDonough County Clerk. The Hancock County Clerk, the Macomb Public Library, and the Schuyler Industry School District all received passing grades in the study.
You can hear Jason Parrott's extended report by clicking on the audio link above.