In late 2005, while I was still working in Washington, I helped out with a story about Mormons and their influence in D.C. As part of that, I had some conversations about the church's office in D.C. and what the heck it is they do.

The upshot is, that as an international religion, the LDS church has a keen interest in keeping up diplomatic relations with the U.S. State Department and foreign governments.

I went ahead and filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the State Department, asking for correspondence between the department and representatives of the LDS Church. Then I waited. And waited. That was January 2006.

In November 2006, I went ahead and wrote a profile on Ken Bowler, the former lobbyist who had been selected as the new director of international and government affairs. Bowler headed up a team of six staffers, including Ann Santini, the wife of a former Democratic congressman from Nevada.

Each year, for example, the church hosts a major Western picnic at the Marriott family ranch. They invite dozens of international diplomats to the annual Christmas light ceremony at the Mormon temple. It coordinates a lecture series where it invites foreign ambassadors to speak at Brigham Young University.

All of this helps the church open doors overseas and expand its missionary programs.

And all of it, including any issues involving missionaries that get in trouble or are hurt or killed while serving abroad, or anything like that, is done without any communication whatsoever with the U.S. State Department.

Because I finally got a response earlier this month, informing me that, after two years and eight months of looking, the State Department could not find a single record that was in any way responsive to my request.

Bang up job, guys.

--rg