Electoral College Treasury

To Whom It May Concern:

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

Materials relating to or discussing the Electoral College, members of the Electoral College, or "faithless electors," as well as materials relating to the briefing request from Electoral College members. According to the letter sent by the Electoral College "Trump’s willingness to disregard conclusions made by the intelligence community and his continuing defense of Russia and Russian President Vladimir Putin demand close scrutiny and deliberation from the Electoral College. The Electors require to know from the intelligence community whether there are ongoing investigations into ties between Donald Trump, his campaign or associates, and Russian government interference in the election, the scope of those investigations, how far those investigations may have reached, and who was involved in those investigations. We further require a briefing on all investigative findings, as these matters directly impact the core factors in our deliberations of whether Mr. Trump is fit to serve as President of the United States." This has been widely discussed by the media. See http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/electoral-college-intelligence-briefing-russia-election_us_584ee466e4b0e05aded4da1b?

I am a member of the news media and request classification as such. I have previously written about the government for AND Magazine, MuckRock and Glomar Disclosure and have an open publishing arrangement with all three outlets. My articles have been widely read, with some reaching over 100,000 readers. As such, as I have a reasonable expectation of publication and my editorial and writing skills are well established. The requested documents will be made freely available to the general public through the non-profit Internet Archive, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.

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,

Michael Best

Please note that your description of my FOIA request does not match what I actually requested, reducing a paragraph of specifics to "electoral college." Can you please confirm that you will search for ALL materials I requested and not arbitrarily limit it in scope?

I am appealing the determination that the request as improper. I did not request research to be conducted, ask questions, or for legal opinions. Further, I asked for information relating to intelligence operations and activities, which is proper as the Treasury department is one of the 17 intelligence agencies. Further, EVERY other agency who received an identical request to this properly determined that it was a legitimate request.

As a member of the press, you are not permitted to charge me for search or duplication fees at all.

As for the remainder, I request a fee waiver.

I am a member of the news media and request classification as such. I have previously written about the government and its activities for AND Magazine, MuckRock and Glomar Disclosure and have an open arrangement with each. My articles have been widely read, with some reaching over 100,000 readers. As such, as I have a reasonable expectation of publication and my editorial and writing skills are well established. In addition, I discuss and comment on the files online and make them available through the non-profit Internet Archive, disseminating them to a large audience. While my research is not limited to this, a great deal of it, including this, focuses on the activities and attitudes of the government itself. As such, it is not necessary for me to demonstrate the relevance of this particular subject in advance. Additionally, case law states that “proof of the ability to disseminate the released information to a broad cross-section of the public is not required.” Judicial Watch, Inc. v. Dep’t of Justice, 365 F.3d 1108, 1126 (D.C. Cir. 2004); see Carney v. U.S. Dep’t of Justice, 19 F.3d 807, 814-15 (2d Cir. 1994). Further, courts have held that "qualified because it also had “firm” plans to “publish a number of . . . ‘document sets’” concerning United States foreign and national security policy." Under this criteria, as well, I qualify as a member of the news media. Additionally, courts have held that the news media status "focuses on the nature of the requester, not its request. The provision requires that the request be “made by” a representative of the news media. Id. § 552(a)(4)(A)(ii)(II). A newspaper reporter, for example, is a representative of the news media regardless of how much interest there is in the story for which he or she is requesting information." As such, the details of the request itself are moot for the purposes of determining the appropriate fee category. As such, my primary purpose is to inform about government activities by reporting on it and making the raw data available and I therefore request that fees be waived.

Further, since you failed to fulfill the request within the required time and I'm a member of the press, statute prohibits you from charging me duplication fees regardless unless there are over 5,000 pages.

Thanks so much! I've disabled automatic follow-ups so as to remove any unnecessary burden on your office while the request is processed.