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I'm sharing the following thread because I feel the public should know how difficult it has been for journalists like myself to receive transparent and timely public records request responses from some @CountyofLA departments during this pandemic...Here goes... #transparency
When Safer-At-Home orders first came down in LA in March, I initiated a public records request with @lapublichealth to find out about @CountyofLA's initial response to the #COVID19 pandemic. When was the virus first discussed? How? What steps were taken to protect the public?
In March, I requested e-mails with extremely specific terms related to the coronavirus for a finite period of time (January to early-March) to/from two @lapublichealth leaders. @CountyofLA began a series of delays on the records request. 14 days... another 14 days...
Finally I spoke with someone from @CountyofLA who indicated my request was too cumbersome and would result in about 10,000 emails per day. (Which came as a surprise, as my ask was pretty specific -- relating to COVID19 and requesting e-mails from only 2 individuals' email boxes).
I was advised to limit my request to a shorter time frame and maybe limit the search terms. I submitted a new request asking only for e-mails ending in .gov or .org (to cover city/state/fed officials) and adjusted the time frame to just Jan. More delays ensued from @CountyofLA.
Spoke again to @CountyofLA and was advised to narrow my request further. The county suggested I remove e-mail attachments from my request because the downloads were time-consuming and again made my request cumbersome. I consented to removing the attachments for now. More delays.
We're now in July. Fed up with the delays I decided to file a NEW request -- this one as limited as I could possibly make it. Again, my goal was to examine @lapublichealth's initial response/discussions surrounding #COVID19. Here is the request I filed with @CountyofLA:
Two weeks later... a response...yet again requesting more time.
Which now brings me to why I am posting this tweet thread. A month after I requested *the first 5 emails ever sent to and from LA County's director of @lapublichealth, Dr. Barbara Ferrer containing the term 'COVID,'* I got responsive records. 3 emails, which I will share....
I was informed by @CountyofLA the other responsive records couldn't be provided because (among the reasons): they were an invasion of privacy, public interest wouldn't be served by disclosing them, and some of these emails to/from Ferrer were privileged.
Here is the @CountyofLA's full response to my amended records request seeking a total of 10 emails. Thoughts? https://www.scribd.com/document/472866256/PRA-Request-Response
For reference, here was my original request back in March -- which still has yet to be fulfilled by @CountyofLA/ @lapublichealth. #journalism #COVID19 #transparency #government #pandemic #news
