Chicken prices • MuckRock

13 Communications
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Communications

From: Brandon Smith

07/12/2017

Subject: Freedom of Information Request: Chicken prices

To Whom It May Concern:

This is a request under the Freedom of Information Act. I hereby request the following records:

- All communication, however formal or informal (which includes subpoenas or civil investigative demands) to or from the SEC and
1. any producer of chicken, or
2. any caretaker of a chicken price index. (The three extant price indices are the USDA Composite, Express Markets, and Urner-Berry.)
The date range of this request is January 1, 2016 to the date of this request.
This request necessarily includes communications between the SEC and members of Congress and their staff.
- All extant written communication, however formal or informal, regarding allegations of misleading statements made by Tyson Foods over the same date range.

If any investigation is closed, exemption 7(A), the exemption about anticipated enforcement actions (often referred to as the "investigation" exemption), does not apply here. That’s because exemption 7(A) can only be used when there is a “reasonable expectation of enforcement proceedings.” In the event of an investigation that is now closed, there is by definition zero expectation of enforcement proceedings. I would also caution you against using exemption 5 (in which is contained the exemption for “predecisional-delibarative" material) material in a too-broad manner. This exemption can only apply in cases of opinion being rendered by a government staff member. In other words, any piece of information that is a statement of fact and not a statement of opinion cannot be redacted under exemption 5. Lastly, we remind you of your burden to redact pieces of information and not to withhold entire pages on which exempt material may appear. This burden of yours is well outlined in caselaw.

The requested documents will be made available to the public via our publication’s subscriber base, which is accessible to anyone. By way of explanation, our media company sells one thing and one thing only, which is articles. These articles compile information based on our editorial judgement, qualifying us for status as a “media requester,” and indeed, denoting any “purpose” of our request as journalistic in nature, provided the request directly informs our articles, which this request does.

As a request journalistic in nature, and coming from a media organization established as a publisher of noted journalism for more than five years, this request qualifies for a waiver of processing fees other than those incurred by copying or storage media. (We are willing to pay for copying and storage media.) Please treat this as our request for this fee waiver.

Just like with any other media company, our function of informing the public must be considered by your office over and above any profit interest our media company may have in obtaining the information that we seek to inform our articles. (This guideline is clearly outlined in caselaw summaries published by the U.S. DOJ.) For your information, we never disseminate any information outside our organization in any way other than through our published articles, which are sent to all our subscribers at once.

If you intend to acknowledge receipt of this request or give me an internal tracking number, please do so via the same means used to communicate this request to you. (For instance, a reply to the original email.)

We would prefer that any questions about the request be asked via the same communication method. However, if you need to explain or ask something complicated, you may call us at 202-813-1032, extension 120. We will memorialize phone conversations via email afterward. Do not send paper mail to Muckrock in Massachusetts at any address included in boilerplate below. Any paper mail that you need to send should be sent to my Washington, DC address included below. But again, I strongly prefer that a digital communication is sent instead of, or concurrently with, any paper mail.

In the event that there are fees, please inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically--by e-mail attachment, or if the response is too large, direct download link or mailed CD-ROM.

If mailing a CD, please alert us of this fact via reply email (so we know to wait on the post), and send the CD to:

c/o Brandon Smith
The Capitol Forum
1233 20th St NW #301
Washington, DC 20036

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,

Brandon Smith
Correspondent
The Capitol Forum

From: Raguindin, Genevieve

07/12/2017