Any half-ass reporter can tell you what the major-party presidential candidates say about a topic. Let's get to the other guys.

Here's what Chuck Baldwin, the Constitution Party candidate for president, says about the Freedom of Information Act.

From: mary@baldwin2008.com
Subject: Chuck Baldwin on FOIA
Date: July 14, 2008 4:53:30 PM MDT
To: ncarlisle@sltrib.com

Nate,

Chuck Baldwin strongly believes government should be transparent and devoid of secrecy, except in matters concerning bona fide national security issues. Never having filed a FOIA request, Baldwin maintains Americans who do seek information from government records and departments have the right to expect information in a reasonable amount of time.

Baldwin believes that excessive secrecy is not beneficial for the country and it encourages deceit. Chuck Baldwin would work to make the FOIA less cumbersome, with elected officials and governmental agencies acknowledging that they operate as employees of the American people and have no overiding right to hide matters relating to the operation of their governmental offices.

With estimates showing that upwards of 400,000* new secrets are created each year just at the TOP SECRET level, and estimates that the government has billions of pages of classified material, Baldwin espouses accountability that can only be achieved when government knows it cannot hide behind “classified” documents.

If you'd like any further clarification, let me know.

Sincerely,
Mary Starrett

Baldwin 2008

* This footnote is mine. That figure originated with a report from the Information Security Oversight Office for the year 1995.

Meanwhile, I'm still waiting for the McCain and Obama campaigns to reply to my requests to give or clarify their positions on FOIA.

--nc

Labels: Candidates, FOIA