Connecticut Council on Freedom of Information
Minutes, Oct. 15, 2014
The meeting was at Wood-N-Tap, 99 Sisson Ave., Hartford.
The minutes of the Sept. 17, 2014, meeting were accepted.
Present: Dick Ahles, Colleen Murphy, Mitch Pearlman, Gary Gold, Mary Connolly, Chris VanDeHoef, George Lombardi, Zach Janowski, Dan Klau, Chris Powell, Paula Pearlman, Tom Scheffey.
Vice President Ahles chaired the meeting.
Treasurer’s Report: Lombardi reported a balance of $10,206.09. No revenue was received this month, but he expects better news in the next month since a mailing to request payment of dues is being prepared.
FOI Pledge: Ahles said there has been a positive response to the request that candidates for state legislator, Congress, governor and constitutional officer sign a pledge of support for the FOI Act.
He said 13 positive responses have been received. Notably, Governor Malloy has said he will sign it. The campaign of Tom Foley, the Republican nominee for governor, has said he has a policy of not signing pledges but does support the FOI Act.
There was discussion of how to encourage more candidate participation. Klau volunteered to write a news release listing those who have signed the pledge and urging others to do the same. He will distribute a draft to CCFOI.
Marking anniversaries: Next year is the 60th anniversary of CCFOI and the 40th anniversary of the FOI Act. CFOG is planning to mark the anniversary with a fund-raising event that will honor an advocate of government transparency. Ahles said more discussion is needed on what CCFOI will do to mark these anniversaries.
Legislative planning: VanDeHoef said the election results will determine future strategy. There was a suggestion that CCFOI try to repeal the Sandy Hook legislation that limited access to some information in response to the 2012 school shooting. VanDeHoef said that effort would not be successful. He said he would not even be able to find a sponsor for repeal.
Looking ahead: The next meeting will be Nov. 19 at noon at Wood-N-Tap.