September 25, 2002
BY FACSIMILE (850-922-4292 / 850-922-9002) AND MAIL
Honorable Jeb Bush Ms. Kathleen Shanahan
Governor Chief
of Staff
Executive Office of the
Governor Executive
Office of the Governor
400 S. Monroe Street 400 S. Monroe Street
The Capital The
Capital
Tallahassee, FL 32399 Tallahassee,
FL 32399
Mr. Ken Allman
Director of Administration
Executive Office of the Governor
400 S. Monroe Street
The Capital
Tallahassee, FL 32399
Re: Florida Public Records
Act Request
Dear Governor Bush, Ms. Shanahan & Mr. Allman:
Pursuant
to the provisions of the Public Records Act, Chapter 119 of the Florida
Statutes. please disclose and
provide any and all documents and/or records from January 1, 1998 to and
including the present that refer or relate in any way to:
1. Cuba;
2. Cuban-Americans and/or Florida’s population of
Cuban-Americans;
3. Cuban-American and/or Hispanic voting patterns;
4. Cuba-U.S. trade policy and procedures;
5. Fidel Castro;
6. Communications and/or
documents which refer or relate to communications or
contact between the Florida Governor,
his office, employees and/or agents with or by and between the President of the United
States and or The White House and its agents and employees
concerning items 1-5, above.
For purposes of
responding to this request, the term “document” is used in its broadest sense,
and includes originals and drafts of any kind of written or graphic matter,
however produced or reproduced, of any kind of description, whether sent or
received or neither, and all copies thereof that are different in any way from
the original (whether by interlineation, receipt stamp, notation, indication of
copies sent or received or otherwise), regardless of whether designated
“confidential,” “privileged,” or otherwise, including without limitation, any
paper, book, account, photograph, blueprint, drawing, agreement, contract,
memorandum, advertising material, letter, telegram, object, report, record,
transcript, study, note, notation, working paper, intra-office communication,
interoffice communication, chart, minute, index sheet, receipts, account
statements, computer software, computer data, check, check stub, delivery
ticket, bill of lading, invoice, flow sheet, price list, quotation, bulletin,
circular, manual, summary, graph, recording of telephone or other conversation
or of interviews, or of conferences, or any other written, recorded,
transcribed, punched, taped, filmed, or graphic matter, however produced or
reproduced. The term “document” also includes without limitation, any tape
recording, videotape, computerization, or other electronic recording, whether
digital or analog or a combination of the two, and expressly includes all
“electronic mail” and representations of the same as stored on any file server
or other device. This request includes copies of every document related to the matter,
regardless of the format in which the information is stored.
If
you refuse to provide this information, Chapter 119 requires you advise
Judicial Watch in writing and indicate the applicable exemption to the Public
Records Act. Also, please state with
particularity the reasons for your decision, as required by Section
119.07(2)(a). If the exemption you are
claiming only applies to a portion of the records, please delete that portion
and provide photocopies of the remainder of the records, according to Section
119.07(2)(a).
Judicial
Watch, hereby requests expedited processing of this request and a waiver of
both search and duplication fees.
Federal
statutes serve as a guide for expedition and fee waivers relating to requests
for public records, specifically the Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”). Judicial Watch, Inc. is entitled to a waiver
of search fees because the records it seeks are not sought for a commercial use
and Judicial Watch, Inc. is a member of the news media.. As a 501 (c)(3) not-for-profit organization,
Judicial Watch, Inc. has no commercial purpose. It is a non-profit, tax-exempt educational foundation organized to increase public understanding of
government operations and activities, as well as the importance of ethics and
the rule of law in government. Judicial
Watch, Inc. regularly requests information about the operations of government through FOIA
and other means, uses its editorial skills to turn this information into
distinct works, and regularly publishes and disseminates its work to the public
in furtherance of its educational mission.
Judicial Watch, Inc.
Is entitled to expedited processing for this request because Judicial Watch is
primarily engaged in information dissemination, and demonstrates a compelling urgency for the requested
information to inform the public of the actual or alleged activity.
Judicial Watch, Inc.
uses the following means, among others, to disseminate its works to the public:
(1) Judicial Watch,
Inc. produces several live radio programs, including a two-hour program
entitled “The Judicial Watch Report,” which airs nationally once every week on
approximately 43 radio stations.
Judicial Watch produced an hour long Spanish language program that aired
twice weekly on WQBA -- 1140 AM in Miami, Florida. Since October 29, 2001, Judicial Watch, Inc. also has produced a
two-hour program that airs daily on the USA Radio Network. Judicial Watch, Inc.’s weekly and the daily
radio programs also can be heard via the Internet at www.USARadio.com and
www.JudicialWatch.org.
(2) Judicial Watch,
Inc. also produces and broadcasts a twice weekly television program entitled
the “The Judicial Watch Report,” which is seen on the Dish Network and the
Liberty Network among others. The
producer of this program is Brian
Doherty, who formerly produced “The O’Reilly Factor” and “The Drudge Report” on
the Fox News Channel. A Spanish
language production of the Judicial Watch report airs weekly on Wednesday
mornings on cable televison’s TeleMiami in South Florida.
(3) Judicial Watch,
Inc. also maintains an Internet site, www.JudicialWatch.org, on which the
public can view and inspect records obtained through FOIA, records obtained
through civil litigation, press releases, editorial works, deposition
transcripts and court opinions, among other materials. This website is viewed by over 1,700 people
per day on average, and on several occasions, has logged up to 600,000 visitors
in a single day.
(4) Judicial Watch,
Inc. also publishes a monthly newsletter, which is sent to approximately
210,000 individuals. It also utilizes
an E-mail Infonet service which sends out updates of Judicial Watch’s
activities over the Internet on nearly a daily basis to 13,700 persons.
(5) Judicial Watch,
Inc. also produces several editorial works each week in the form of press
releases, which are “blast faxed” to hundreds of radio and television stations,
as well as newspapers throughout the country
(6) Judicial Watch,
Inc. also publishes periodic reports.
For example, on September 28, 1998, Judicial Watch, Inc. published its Interim
Report on Crimes and Other Offenses Committed by President Bill Clinton
Warranting His Impeachment and Removal from Elected Office. This 145-page report was accompanied by
nearly 4,000 pages of supporting documentation, and was crafted, in part, from
the raw materials obtained by Judicial Watch, Inc. through FOIA requests. This distinct work has been disseminated
widely to the public. On or about
August 10, 1999, Judicial Watch, Inc. published its Filegate Status Report,
which is 136 pages long and is supported by nearly 1000 pages of documentation.
Another recent report by Judicial
Watch, Inc. is The Judicial Watch Florida Recount, an independent,
non-partisan analysis of the results of Florida’s hotly contested 2000
Presidential election based upon an sampling of ballots reviewed by Judicial
Watch, Inc. pursuant to Florida’s version of FOIA. This document was published on March 22, 2001. In addition, Judicial Watch, Inc. published The
Judicial Watch 2002 “State of the Union” Report, Bush Administration Ethics
Enforcement: “A Failure of Leadership,” in February 1, 2002, and it’s most
recent publication is Fatal Neglect: The US Governments Continuing Failure
to Protect American Citizens from Terrorists, published September 11, 2002.
Judicial Watch also
uses records it obtains pursuant to Florida law at public events such as
conferences, seminars and speeches. For example, in October of 2001, Judicial
Watch held its third annual “Ethics in Government Conference” in Miami,
Florida. Previous conferences were held
in Pasadena, California (1999), and Washington, DC (2000). Judicial Watch also works with other media
organizations to publish new stories that are in the public interest. The Chairman and President of Judicial
Watch, Inc. also frequently appear on nationally broadcast television and radio
programs. Judicial Watch is a member of
the National Religious Broadcast Association and has been granted press
credentials at a number of national conventions and other events.
Judicial Watch, Inc.
therefore qualifies as a member of the media and is entitled to a waiver of
search fees. See National
Security Archive v. U.S. Department of Defense, 880 F.2d 1381 (D.C. Cir.
1989). In fact, Judicial Watch, Inc.
has been recognized previously as a member of the media in other FOIA
litigation. See Judicial
Watch, Inc. v. U.S. Department of Justice, 133 F. Supp.2d 52 (D.D.C. 2000).
Judicial Watch, Inc.
also is entitled to a complete waiver of both search fees and duplication fees.
Again, because Judicial Watch, Inc. has no commercial purpose, its request is
not “in the commercial interest of the requestor.”
Judicial Watch,
Inc.’s request is likely to contribute significantly to the public’s
understanding of government operations and activities. Typically, agencies look to the following
four points in making this determination:
(1) whether the subject of the request concerns the operations or
activities of government; (2) whether disclosure of the requested records is
likely to contribute to an understanding of government operations or
activities; (3) whether disclosure of the requested records will contribute to
a “reasonably broad” audience and whether the requestor has the “ability and
intention” to disseminate the information to the public; and (4) whether
disclosure of the requested record will contribute “significantly” to the
public understanding.
Judicial Watch,
Inc.’s requested information is urgently needed, warranting expedited
processing, in order to inform a broad public concern about the actual or
alleged activity of the government of the State of Florida, through Judicial
Watch Inc.’s status as a non-profit,
tax-exempt educational foundation organized to increase public understanding of
government operations and activities.
Without question,
the subject-matter of the request concerns the operations and activities of
government, and an “urgency” exists to immediately disseminate this information
regarding these activities to the
public, namely to uncover relations and policy with a country and its
people, Cuba, which is on the U.S. terrorist watch list, as well as the
requestee’s political considerations in carrying out these relations and
policies.
Second, disclosure
of the requested records will contribute to an understanding of this particular
investigation, as the requested records relate directly to dealings with a
terrorist state.
Third, disclosure of
the requested record will contribute to the understanding of “a reasonably
broad audience of persons interested in the subject” and Judicial Watch, Inc.
has a demonstrable “ability and intention” to convey the information to the
public, as evidenced by the description of its various media outlets outlined
above. A “reasonably broad” audience
obviously is interested in the subject-matter of this request. Judicial Watch,
Inc. intends to disseminate the information it obtains in response to this
request via its radio programs and its other media outlets.
Given these
compelling circumstances, Judicial Watch, Inc. is entitled to a public interest
fee waiver of both search costs and duplication costs. We request to receive
the requested documents and a full public interest fee waiver within ten (10)
business days.
As a 501 (c)(3)
not-for-profit organization, Judicial Watch, Inc. has no commercial
purpose. It is a non-profit, tax-exempt
educational foundation organized to increase public understanding of government
operations and activities, as well as the importance of ethics and the rule of
law in government. Judicial Watch, Inc.
regularly requests information about the operations of government through
public records requests, the Freedom of Information Act, and other means, uses
its editorial skills to turn this information into distinct works, and
regularly publishes and disseminates its work to the public in furtherance of
its educational mission
Judicial Watch requests these records be available in ten
days or by October 5, 2002. If you have any questions, or need more information
in order to expedite this request, please contact Irene Garcia at 305-349-2391.
Sincerely,
JUDICIAL WATCH, INC.
Larry Klayman
Chairman and General
Counsel