CFPB Brian Johnson
| Tracking # |
CFPB-2018-128-F |
| Submitted | Dec. 7, 2017 |
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Communications
From: Andrew Perez
To Whom It May Concern:
This is a request under the Freedom of Information Act. I hereby request the following records:
All communications exchanged between the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and Brian Johnson, senior counsel at the House Committee on Financial Services, between Feb. 1, 2015 and Nov. 30, 2017.
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 20 business days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
Andrew Perez
MapLight
Political Reporter
c: (954) 410-4522
From: Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
Please see the attached acknowledgement letter that references your FOIA request dated December 7, 2017 that was submitted to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).
If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact the CFPB FOIA Service Center at 1-855-444-FOIA (3642) or
CFPB_FOIA@cfpb.gov .
Thank you.
Toni Wilkerson
From: Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
Please see the attached fee estimate letter that references your FOIA request dated December 7, 2017 that was submitted to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).
If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact the CFPB FOIA Service Center at 1-855-444-FOIA (3642) or
CFPB_FOIA@cfpb.gov .
Thank you.
Toni Wilkerson
From: Andrew Perez
I am a member of the news media. It wasn't clear from your previous letter that you were considering me an "other" type requester, but I believe there's been an error. I am a journalist for a MapLight, which I noted in my request to your agency. We are a small, 501(c) 3 nonprofit organization, and the cost estimate you provided far exceeds our public records budget for the year.
We would be happy to discuss our request with you and revise it to cut down on the amount of responsive material. First, though, we would appreciate if you recognize that we are a journalism outlet and provide us with a revised fee estimate that reflects the fact that we are a news media requester. I can be reached on my cell at (954) 410-4522 if you have any questions.
Thank you,
Andrew
From: Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
Good Afternoon Mr. Perez,
I did receive your voicemail as well as the email below.
Can you please send me any documentation that supports your claim of media status?
Also, you mentioned that you are willing to narrow the scope of your request to reduce the amount of responsive material. Do you have any specific date ranges, individual names and/or keywords that you would like to search?
Thank you again,
Toni
-
~WRD018
From: Andrew Perez
Thanks for speaking with me today. I'm sending along information regarding our media status.
We publish news stories on our website, maplight.org. Our Twitter account is @MapLight.
As a research and journalism organization, we often work with federal and state campaign finance data and lobbying records to produce original, investigative journalism. We have also worked with the FARA filings with the Justice Department.
We frequently publish with other news outlets. In the past, these have included NBC News; International Business Times/Newsweek; The Intercept; and the Verge.
I'm sharing some examples here:
- http://www.ibtimes.com/political-capital/top-gop-law-enforcement-chiefs-held-secret-weekend-event-mar-lago-2614608
- http://www.ibtimes.com/political-capital/foreign-lobbyists-contributed-more-45-million-candidates-2016-elections-2623418
- http://www.ibtimes.com/g00/political-capital/did-gov-susana-martinez-break-sec-rules-new-mexico-pension-deals-2591878
- https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/top-lobbyist-slow-disclose-relationship-saudi-arabia-n584156
Some of my stories at MapLight have been picked up by the Associated Press, New York Times and Washington Post, among others.
Before working at MapLight, I was a reporter for International Business Times. I also interned at the Huffington Post. I received a bachelors degree majoring in journalism from the George Washington University.
My archived stories at those outlets are available here:
http://www.ibtimes.com/reporters/andrew-perez
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/author/andrew-perez
I should note MapLight's managing editor, Frank Bass, is a Pulitzer-prize winning investigative journalist, and previously worked with the Wall Street Journal, Associated Press and Bloomberg News. Both of our bios are available here: https://maplight.org/who-we-are/
And for what it's worth, this summer I led a demo panel on how to cover money in politics at the annual Investigative Reporters & Editors conference - https://ire.org/events-and-training/event/2703/3318/
I will send a subsequent email revising our request that I hope will produce fewer responsive documents.
Thank you,
Andrew
From: Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
Thank you. We will review this information and get back with you.
Thanks,
Toni
-
~WRD314
From: Andrew Perez
I'm writing to revise our records request per our conversation. We have shortened the duration of the request, and we are adding search terms. We hope this will decrease the amount of responsive records. Please let me know if there are any issues with our revised request as written.
I hereby request the following records:
All communications exchanged between the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and Brian Johnson, senior counsel at the House Committee on Financial Services, between Jan. 1, 2016 and Nov. 30, 2017. For emails affiliated with Mr. Johnson, please use "brian.johnson@mail.house.gov."
Please use the following search terms: Wells Fargo; Bank of America; BoA; BofA; Citibank; Citi; JPMorgan; JP Morgan; Santander; Ocwen; Nationstar; Capital One; Equifax; TransUnion; Experian; Navient.
If there are any duplicate versions of emails that were sent to multiple CFPB employees, please only include one copy.
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 20 business days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
Andrew Perez
MapLight
Political Reporter
c: (954) 410-4522
From: Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
Good Morning Andrew,
Ok. We will begin searching for records responsive to your modified request and will contact you again once our searches are completed and our disclosure determinations are made.
Should you have any questions concerning the processing of your request, please feel free to call me at (202) 435-9179 or by e-mail: CFPB_FOIA@cfpb.gov . Please be sure to reference the request number (CFPB-2018-128-F) in your communications.
Thank you,
Toni
-
~WRD169
From: Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
Good Morning Andrew,
As it relates to your media status request, I have reviewed your email thoroughly and determined to place you, Andrew Perez of MapLight, into the media requester category.
You have been determined to be a media requester and provisions of the FOIA allow the CFPB to recover part of the cost of complying with your request. You will be charged for the duplication (after the first 100 pages) costs in accordance with the CFPB Interim FOIA regulations as applicable to media requestors. The CFPB’s FOIA Fee Schedule may be viewed at www.consumerfinance.gov/foia/foia-fee-schedule<http://www.consumerfinance.gov/foia/foia-fee-schedule> . You did not indicate in your request a specific amount you were willing to pay. Therefore, in accordance with our regulations, your submission of a FOIA request is construed as an agreement to pay up to $25.00. You will be contacted in the event there are additional fees related to the processing of your request beyond this amount.
Thank you,
Toni
-
~WRD196
From: Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
From: Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
The response was too large to send in one email. You will receive 6 emails
Holly C. Walter
Government Information Specialist | Operations Division
Office: (202) 435-7210 | Mobile: (202) 407-1386
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
consumerfinance.gov/foia<http://www.consumerfinance.gov/foia/>
From: Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
Email 2 of 6
Holly C. Walter
Government Information Specialist | Operations Division
Office: (202) 435-7210 | Mobile: (202) 407-1386
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
consumerfinance.gov/foia<http://www.consumerfinance.gov/foia/>
From: Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
Email 3 of 6
Holly C. Walter
Government Information Specialist | Operations Division
Office: (202) 435-7210 | Mobile: (202) 407-1386
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
consumerfinance.gov/foia<http://www.consumerfinance.gov/foia/>
From: Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
Email 5 of 6
Holly C. Walter
Government Information Specialist | Operations Division
Office: (202) 435-7210 | Mobile: (202) 407-1386
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
consumerfinance.gov/foia<http://www.consumerfinance.gov/foia/>
From: Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
Email 4 of 6
Holly C. Walter
Government Information Specialist | Operations Division
Office: (202) 435-7210 | Mobile: (202) 407-1386
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
consumerfinance.gov/foia<http://www.consumerfinance.gov/foia/>
From: Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
Email 6 of 6
Holly C. Walter
Government Information Specialist | Operations Division
Office: (202) 435-7210 | Mobile: (202) 407-1386
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
consumerfinance.gov/foia<http://www.consumerfinance.gov/foia/>
From: Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
A copy of documents responsive to the request.
Files
pages