FOIA Indiana governor for files related to "Donald Trump"

To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the Indiana Access to Public Records Act, I hereby request the following records:

We request all communications and files mentioning 2016 presidential candidate "Donald Trump" sent or received by the office of the governor. Please include all emails, faxes, and letters. Please include all documents sent or received starting January 1, 2016, up to the date this request is acknowledged by your office.

The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.

In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 7 business days, as the statute requires.

Sincerely,

Dell Cameron

Dear: Katie Gilson, Staff Assistant, Office of Gov. Mike Pence:

Please consider this letter an appeal of the decision of your office to reject my open records request. Filed on June 15, 2016, I requested the following: "all communications and files mentioning 2016 presidential candidate 'Donald Trump' sent or received by the office of the governor. Please include all emails, faxes, and letters. Please include all documents sent or received starting January 1, 2016, up to the date this request is acknowledged by your office."

My request was rejected based on the assertion of Shelley Triol, Communications Director for Governor Mike Pence, that the request does not meet the ambiguous requirement of "reasonable particularity" under the Indiana Access to Public Records Act. On behalf of my employer, the Daily Dot, I would like to point out that my initial request was narrowed to records pertaining to a single individual's name. Therefore, it is impossible for me to narrow my request any further.

Be advised that I am also filing a complaint regarding your rejection of my legitimate request with the Office of the Public Access Counsellor.

Further, I would to request an estimated completion date for this request as it has now been two months since it was initially filed. I also request that you wave all fees associated with this request on the basis that I am an investigative reporter and member of the news media. A catalogue of my professional works may be viewed at this address: http://www.dailydot.com/authors/dell-cameron/

I would appreciate a prompt response.

I received your letter clarifying the position of the governors office regarding my open records request -- specifically, that my request had not been denied, but instead further clarification was requested. I will do my best to clarify.

First, I believe my request meets the definition of "reasonable particularity" because it should be clear which records I am requesting: Office communications mentioning, referring to, or describing Donald Trump, the 2016 Republican presidential candidate.

By “records” I am referring to documents which your office is capable of searching in response to open records requests, electronic mail, for example.

I have also specified a timeframe: Jan 1, 2015 - the date of your first response, which was June 22, 2016.

While you may anticipate that my request will return a large number of responsive documents, it is not a “broad” request. I cannot be more specific than “Donald Trump” because “Donald Trump” is the name of a single individual.

I will offer the following changes to reduce the burden of this search:

Limit the search to records sent, received, or created between May 1, 2016 and August 1, 2016. (4 months)

You may exclude email newsletters from external sources, which I imagine would significantly reduce the number of responsive records.

You may limit my request to the governor himself; senior staff members and their administrative assistants; the chief of staff and deputy chiefs; communications staff and general counsels office; cabinet members, including their senior and communications staff.

Please alert me if this request is being formally denied.

Dell Cameron

Thank you for your advice, I have spoken with Luke Britt.

I understand "reasonable specificity" generally means specifying a sender and/or receiver of any email records. In my letter yesterday, I specified a range of staff positions which I believe are held by employees at your office. I do not have access to a complete list of employees at the governor’s office or the positions held by them. If such a list is made available to the public and updated on a regular basis, please let me know.

I requested a list of employees from your office this morning and an assistant refused, suggesting instead that I avail myself of the legal system, which seems like a good suggestion.

I believe it places undue burden on me as a member of the press to be forced to supply your office with a list of its own employees. Anticipating further resistance to my initial public records request, however, I’ve filed a separate request for access to a list of your staff. In the interest of transparency — and since I’m essentially asking for information it is reasonable to assume any one of your employees would have immediate access to — I ask that you please expedite this matter.

I have also been informed by the public access counsellor that a 6-month timeframe likely meets the definition of “reasonable specificity.”

As I do not have access to a staff directory, for the time being I will provide you with a list of names I located on your website so that you may begin the search phase of this process. Please begin filling my request for any responsive documents referencing “Donald Trump,” the 2016 presidential candidate, which were sent, received, or created between May 1, 2016 and August 1, 2016, and include any office communications sent or received by the following Indiana public employees:

Mike Pence, Jim Atterholt, Mark Ahearn, Shelley Triol, Jennifer Tuggle, Josh Pitcock, Brenda Morrissey, Kara Brooks, Matt Lloyd, Mark J. Wuellner, Stephanie Hodgin, Eric Holcomb, Danny Lopez, Mark Wuellner, Jake Oakman, Emily Duncan, Jessica Robertson, Marita Steltenpohl, Tim Grogg, David W. Kane, Arvin Copeland, Brian Arrowood, Jessica Norris, Sue Ellspermann.

Thanks for your time.