Watchdog Report: Intimidation tactics won’t stop public access

Watchdog Report: Intimidation tactics won’t stop public access

By Brad Matthews | Watchdog Arena
Special to Historic City News

When a local activist in Montgomery County, Maryland filed to get public records pertaining to the $89 million construction of a library and recreation center, she was told she had to wait three months for the data to be gathered. Oh, she also had to pay an exorbitant sum of $58,407.

Kim Persaud, an activist and president of the Wheaton Regional Park Neighborhood Association, told the Washington Post that “This is just intimidation.”

“We need to have some transparency,” County Council member Nancy Navarro (D) told the Post. “The community has been waiting a long time for this.”

The Maryland Public Information Act, which Persaud filed under, and other laws allow for localities to charge “reasonable” fees for access to information; but, a sum this large has never been charged for a records query in Maryland before.

County officials maintain that the costs are accurate and fair –the Post reports that it apparently costs $50,000 for the data retrieval by IT professionals, with the rest coming from hourly rates paid to the attorney’s office and general staff to review the documents.

Councilwoman Navarro and Persaud are both exasperated with the lack of information from County Executive Ike Leggett and General Services Director David Dise.

This article was written by a contributor of Watchdog Arena, Franklin Center’s network of writers, bloggers, and citizen journalists.