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Mar 14 • 5 tweets • 4 min read
It’s #SunshineWeek! Throughout the week, we will talk about #FOIA and transparency.

We also want to highlight what other transparency organizations are doing this week. Here’s a few events we’re excited about.
Today, @NARA will host a conversation about the importance of open government between Archivist of the United States David S. Ferriero and Librarian of Congress Dr. Carla Hayden.
Tuesday at 1 PM ET, @POGOwatchdog is hosting a #SunshineWeek Twitter Spaces discussion about #FOIA and whistleblowers. We’ll be joining moderator @Melissa_Wasser for a great conversation.
And if you want to learn more about how we use FOIA ourselves, be sure to check out our digital FOIA Training this Wednesday at 2 PM ET on Facebook Live:
Check out more of the the events happening this #Sunshine Week using @OpenTheGov’s event tracker here:

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More from @weareoversight

American Oversight Profile picture
Mar 15
This week marks American Oversight’s fifth anniversary.

Since opening, we’ve used public records requests and litigation to uncover and publish over a million pages of records.

For our fifth anniversary, here are five times our work led to greater accountability.
1. Exposing the Trump Administration’s Response to Racial Justice Protests

As Americans took to the streets in June 2020 to protest the police killings of Black people, the federal law enforcement response in many cities took a sharply authoritarian turn.
In Washington, DC, the protest response included deploying low-flying helicopters and armored vehicles.

We submitted scores of public records requests to learn more about the federal government’s response to the protests.
Read 17 tweets
American Oversight Profile picture
Mar 15
We uncovered records that showed Michael Gableman, the attorney leading Wisconsin’s election review, billed taxpayers for his trips to the Arizona “audit” and Mike Lindell’s “cyber symposium.”

Now, the assembly says it will subtract money from future payments to Gableman.
Gableman traveled to the Arizona “audit” and to election conspiracy promoter Mike Lindell's "cyber symposium" last summer.

Records we obtained show taxpayers paid for the trips, even though Speaker Vos said they wouldn’t.
jsonline.com/story/news/pol…
Records we uncovered in November show that taxpayers also footed the bill for Gableman’s hotels during his August trip to South Dakota to attend a “cyber symposium” hosted by My Pillow CEO and prominent election denier Mike Lindell.
americanoversight.org/expense-record…
Read 7 tweets
American Oversight Profile picture
Mar 14
Today is the first day of #SunshineWeek, a week that celebrates and promotes access to information and open government nationwide.

To kick things off, we want to explain exactly what the Freedom of Information Act is and why it is such a powerful transparency tool. #FOIA Image
The Freedom of Information Act was signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson in 1966. FOIA is a law that gives anyone the right to request records from agencies in the executive branch.
Yes, anyone can file a FOIA request! Many journalists, scholars, watchdog organizations, and more use FOIA requests to research what goes on behind the scenes in government. You can request records such as emails, text messages, paper documents, videos, and more.
Read 18 tweets
American Oversight Profile picture
Feb 24
On Nov. 19 2020, Texas Gov. Abbott asked then-President Trump for continued funding and authority for Covid-19 support from the Texas National Guard, a letter we obtained shows.

The same day, Abbott refused to impose new business restrictions as cases soared. Image
In the Nov. 19 letter, Gov. Abbott acknowledged that Covid-19 cases were surging across his state.
He wrote that the National Guard extension was “critical to ensuring the safety and health of our citizens as Texas aggressively responds to this surge in Covid-19 cases.”
americanoversight.org/document/texas…
Read 5 tweets
American Oversight Profile picture
Feb 23
The partisan and problematic (and pricey) Wisconsin election review initiated by Assembly Speaker Robin Vos is still ongoing. Here’s recent news about the election review — and how we’re investigating.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel recently reported that Michael Gableman, who’s leading the Assembly’s investigation, had suggested hiring election conspiracy theorist Shiva Ayyadurai to assist with the probe.
jsonline.com/story/news/pol…
Gableman floated the idea in August, saying that Ayyadurai had a “faster and cheaper” way to analyze the election than the process in the Maricopa County “audit.”
Read 9 tweets
American Oversight Profile picture
Feb 23
We’ve seen for months — years, in fact — how lies about widespread voter fraud have fueled calls for new voting restrictions. Arizona has been a hotbed of those proposals. Here’s recent news about the Big Lie in Arizona — and how we’re investigating.
Last week, an Arizona Senate committee approved bills that would increase the monitoring of voter-registration rolls; direct county clerks to submit records of felony convictions for the purpose of canceling registrations; and prohibit electronic voting.
apps.azleg.gov/BillStatus/Bil…
The committee also advanced a bill that Courthouse News reported “would create a permanent election audit team under the umbrella of the Arizona state Legislature” and could be made up of former Cyber Ninjas “auditors.”
courthousenews.com/arizona-senate…
Read 5 tweets

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