GOP group mines data from office of Amy Klobuchar
08/26/2006
Patricia Lopez,
Star Tribune
Last update: August 26, 2006 – 12:14 AM
For nearly a year, the National Republican Senatorial Committee has been attempting to use Minnesota’s open-records law to dig into the files of Hennepin County Attorney Amy Klobuchar, the DFL’s U.S. Senate candidate, with only limited success.
Filing what one Hennepin County records official called “the most sweeping requests I’ve ever seen,” officials of the committee already have obtained 700 pages of expense reports, travel records, names and phone numbers of current and past employees, and other documents.
The situation attests to the political tensions involved when a public organization receives what essentially is a request to provide potential political research at taxpayer expense.
“Hundreds and hundreds of hours have been spent on this request,” said Gary Kamp, who directs compliance with data requests for Hennepin County. “I’ve had this responsibility for 15 years and I’ve never seen anything this broad.”
Still in dispute are thousands more documents the NRSC wants, including Klobuchar’s daily travel schedules going back seven years, progress notes on various programs, oral and written testimony she may have given on proposed legislation, arguments for civil commitments and receipts for everything from out-of-town meals to office furniture.
Committee officials complain that the office has dragged its feet, in some cases taking months to provide information taken off the office’s website and waiting 11 months to comply with more complicated requests.
Brian Walton, regional spokesman for the committee, notes that the state DFL Party recently complained about a two-week delay in getting travel records from GOP Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s office.
“We’ve been waiting 11-and-a- half months and counting on some of our stuff,” Walton said. “These are all public records. They’re not giving us complete information, not giving it in a timely manner, and they’ve outright rejected a number of requests.”
Pete Cahill, Klobuchar’s chief deputy, defended the long compliance time. “We get other requests, and people fit this in with all the other duties they have working for taxpayers. We’re getting 10,000 felony referrals a year. We’re working on murder cases. We’re doing the best we can.
“They have a right to ask for public data, and we have a duty to provide it,” Cahill said. “At the same time, they have to keep in mind the realities of the mission in our office, the other work we have to do.”
Cost isn’t a factor
Asked how much has been spent to comply with the requests, Kamp said no specific records have been kept, since the county cannot bill for it. The only cost to the committee has been a 25-cent-per-page copying fee, he said.
Cahill said cost isn’t a factor in compliance but noted that the copying fee “doesn’t begin to cover the cost.”
Correspondence from Hennepin County Information Technology to the committee pointed out in an Aug. 11 letter that it was unaware until recently that the committee was behind the requests, which were filed by Phillip Brenner and Delisa Lay, two committee staff members who used plain, nonletterhead paper and unofficial e-mails to make their requests.
Walton said that is “standard practice” for the committee’s information requests.
The Minnesota Data Practices Act does not require those requesting information to identify the organizations they may represent.
Walton said he does not know whether the knowledge that the request was from the committee affected the response.
Cahill and Kamp contend that they have kept nothing hidden and have sent staff people combing through 16-year-old labor grievances and archived expense reports in their efforts to comply.
Walton said the committee will continue to pursue its requests, even though time is slowly running out. “If they (Hennepin officials) put it off long enough, it’s irrelevant, and they know it,” he said.
Walton declined to say what the committee has found in the information it has received or how it intends to use it.