There seems to be no end to Denny Inman's willingness to ignore the Freedom of Information Act. Hopefully, someone will put a stop to it. Here is the latest.
In June I requested to review correspondence regarding the final costs on the nursing home project which were due to the health facilities planning board in May. Inman finally responded to that request, only after I filed an appeal with Board Chairman Pius Weibel. In that response, Inman said that no such correspondence with our attorneys existed.
Now, I come to find out, by looking at the County Board agenda, that there are no fewer than six references within the billing from Duane Morris to correspondence with Inman. This isn't the first time that Inman has broken the law by failing to honestly respond to a FOIA request, but I hope it's the last. Most people have felt that Inman has withheld important information from the media, board members, and the public. I wouldn't be surprised to find out that he's illegally withheld documents in discovery.
It doesn't have to be this way. First, the County Board can fire him. I mean right now. This is clearly a violation of his contract and because it's not the first time this has happened, it would be totally justified to let the guy go. Second, Julia Rietz can prosecute him under the Official Misconduct Statute which says in part
A public officer or employee or special government agent commits misconduct when, in his official capacity or capacity as a special government agent, he commits any of the following acts:
(a) Intentionally or recklessly fails to perform any mandatory duty as required by law;
Is such a drastic step a good idea? I wouldn't normally say so. However, Inman's total disregard for this statute leads me to believe that no other avenue is available to get him to comply with the law.
This seems to be a chronic problem with goverment entities around here:
- Champaign Police/City of Champaign blows off FOIA big time.
- MTD failed to produce emails which recipient of emails did produce under a separate FOIA request.
- U of I refuses to release certain vendor bids without pricing information redacted. (yes, really!)
Yep, I'd say it's time for someone to rewrite FOIA with some right of private action and liquidated damages/fine provisions.
Has this been brought to the attention of the County Board?
Can't a court be asked to compel compliance?
Michael Fuerst
Is he witholding them pursuant to an attorney-client privilege, or does he just say nothing exists? Even if you withhold them pursuant to some kind of privilege, I think you have to admit they exist.
If you read the letter, he says they don't exist. Yes, a court can compel compliance. But if someone is willing to lie it's virtually impossible for the court to act.
Maybe an attorney who specializes in litigation can explain how you go about getting documents that you can't even prove exist????
It's time (long past) that Mr. Inman is relieved of his duties. My only hope is that they do it more carefully than they did the Sup. of Assessments so the taxpayers aren't stuck with a huge money package.