Perdue Agribusiness Communications with USDA (U.S. Department of Agriculture - Agricultural Marketing Service)
| Tracking # |
17-02896-F |
| Submitted | March 17, 2017 |
| Est. Completion | None |
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Communications
From: Alexander Rony
To Whom It May Concern:
This is a request under the Freedom of Information Act. I hereby request the following records:
Emails, faxes, letters, meeting records, investigation records, and any other communications to or from:
- George Ervin "Sonny" Perdue; Heidi Green; or Trey Childress
- Any email addresses with the domains perduepartners.com or agrowstar.com
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,
Alexander Rony
From: Alexander Rony
Two points of clarification. I am seeking records from the Agricultural Marketing Service, not the USDA as an entire department. Also, please limit your search from January 11, 2011 to the date this request is processed.
Thank you,
Alexander Rony
From: Little, Jewell (CTR) - AMS
Dear Mr. Rony,
This email confirms receipt of your FOIA request (see attached). Your request was received on March 21, 2017 and assigned tracking number 2017-AMS-02850-F. Please use this tracking number whenever contacting us regarding this request.
The FOIA regulation 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(6)(A)(i) requires USDA to make a determination in response to a FOIA request within 20 business days from its date of receipt. In unusual circumstances, the Federal agency time limit may be extended by 10 business days as stated in 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(6)(B).
Please contact me if you have any questions.
Jewell Little
Senior FOIA Analyst
USDA Agricultural Marketing Service
1400 Independence Avenue, S.W.
Stop 0202
Washington, D.C. 20250
This electronic message contains information generated by the USDA solely for the intended recipients. Any unauthorized interception of this message or the use or disclosure of the information it contains may violate the law and subject the violator to civil or criminal penalties. If you believe you have received this message in error, please notify the sender and delete the email immediately.
From: Little, Jewell (CTR) - AMS
Dear Mr. Rony,
In regards to the above FOIA request, the AMS FOIA Officer would like to have a brief conference call with you in order to clarify the terms of the request. Would you please reply to this email with a telephone number and available time when we can call you?
Thank you and kind regards,
Jewell Little
Senior FOIA Analyst
USDA Agricultural Marketing Service
1400 Independence Avenue, S.W.
Stop 0202
Washington, D.C. 20250
This electronic message contains information generated by the USDA solely for the intended recipients. Any unauthorized interception of this message or the use or disclosure of the information it contains may violate the law and subject the violator to civil or criminal penalties. If you believe you have received this message in error, please notify the sender and delete the email immediately.
From: Alexander Rony
Hi Ms. Little,
I can be reached at (415) 977-5739 tomorrow from 10am to 4pm PT. That being said, I am preemptively limiting the scope of the request, which may make the call unnecessary. Please refine my request just to email communications with email addresses using the domains perduepartners.com or agrowstar.com.
Regards,
Alexander
From: Little, Jewell (CTR) - AMS
Hello Mr. Rony,
We note that you are indicating a desire to limit the scope of your request. Nevertheless, the FOIA Officer would still like to briefly talk with you. Therefore, we would like to call you at the number given at 3 pm ET. ( I believe that should be within the time range that you gave us as I think ET is 3 hours ahead of PT.) The limitation of your request can also be reiterated at that time.
Thank you for your consideration.
Regards,
Jewell
-
~WRD000
From: Alexander Rony
Yes, 3pm ET / 12pm PT works for me.
From:
Attached is a correspondence pertaining to your recent (FOIA) request.
From: Alexander Rony
Per our discussion today, I would like to amend my request in order to limit its scope. Please limit your search to email communications between the domains perduepartners.com or agrowstar.com and staff at the following programs and offices at the Agricultural Marketing Service:
- Public Affairs Office
- Outreach Office
- Legislative & Regulatory Review
- Sonia Jimenez and Gabriella Bolanos-Ponce of Compliance & Analysis
I would prefer to keep this request limited to less than $50 in fees, so please let me know if this request needs to be refined further to accommodate that.
From: Little, Jewell (CTR) - AMS
Hello Mr. Rony,
Based on our telephone conversation this afternoon, I understand that you will be amending your request and will provide the amended request to us by April 6, 2017. Your request has been given the tracking number 2017-AMS-02850-F. Because you have indicated that you wish to amend your request, we are pausing the processing and will re-start it when we receive the amendment. However, if we do not receive your amendment by April 6, 2017, we will administratively close that request. After April 6, 2017, we will open a new request if and when we receive the amended information from you.
If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me.
Best regards,
Jewell Little
Senior FOIA Analyst
USDA Agricultural Marketing Service
1400 Independence Avenue, S.W.
Stop 0202
Washington, D.C. 20250
-
~WRD000
From: Little, Jewell (CTR) - AMS
Dear Mr. Rony,
Since we did not receive an amended request from you on the date given below, we are extending the timeframe for your response to us just in case you need additional time. The new deadline for providing an amended request to us is Friday, April 14, 2017.
Best regards,
Jewell Little
Senior FOIA Analyst
USDA Agricultural Marketing Service
1400 Independence Avenue, S.W.
Stop 0202
Washington, D.C. 20250
-
~WRD000
From: Alexander Rony
Dear Ms. Little,
I sent an email on 3/23 that may have been misplaced. Here was my amended request:
-----------------
Per our discussion today, I would like to amend my request in order to limit its scope. Please limit your search to email communications between the domains perduepartners.com or agrowstar.com and staff at the following programs and offices at the Agricultural Marketing Service:
- Public Affairs Office
- Outreach Office
- Legislative & Regulatory Review
- Sonia Jimenez and Gabriella Bolanos-Ponce of Compliance & Analysis
I would prefer to keep this request limited to less than $50 in fees, so please let me know if this request needs to be refined further to accommodate that.
-----------------
In addition, I request that I be properly classified as a news media requester. My work here at Sierra Club includes both editorializing and distributing information on issues of public interest to large audiences through a 500,000+ email list, press releases, blog posts, and other outlets.
Here are a few examples:
* http://www.sierraclub.org/compass/2016/10/members-distance-themselves-alecs-climate-policies
* http://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/press-releases/4480/over-700000-people-tell-government-to-block-seed-mergers#
From: Little, Jewell (CTR) - AMS
I apologize for overlooking that email. We will note your amendment and submit an acknowledgement at the time we begin processing it.
Thanks,
Jewell Little
-
~WRD000
From: Alexander Rony
Thanks for your quick response and for following up with me in the first place.
Best,
Alexander
From: Little, Jewell (CTR) - AMS
Dear Mr. Rony,
This is just to confirm that we have begun processing your FOIA request according to the amendment that you provided us. The tracking number remains the same as previously given you and as referenced above. The new estimated response date is May 8, 2017. If contacting this office regarding this request, please refer to the tracking number referenced above.
Best regards,
Jewell Little
Senior FOIA Analyst
USDA Agricultural Marketing Service
1400 Independence Avenue, S.W.
Stop 0202
Washington, D.C. 20250
This electronic message contains information generated by the USDA solely for the intended recipients. Any unauthorized interception of this message or the use or disclosure of the information it contains may violate the law and subject the violator to civil or criminal penalties. If you believe you have received this message in error, please notify the sender and delete the email immediately.
From: MuckRock.com
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on March 17, 2017. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed. You had assigned it reference number #17-02896-F.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Little, Jewell (CTR) - AMS
Dear Mr. Rony,
Attached is a response to the above referenced FOIA request.
Best regards,
Jewell Little
Senior FOIA Analyst/Attorney
USDA Agricultural Marketing Service
1400 Independence Avenue, S.W.
Stop 0202
Washington, D.C. 20250
This electronic message contains information generated by the USDA solely for the intended recipients. Any unauthorized interception of this message or the use or disclosure of the information it contains may violate the law and subject the violator to civil or criminal penalties. If you believe you have received this message in error, please notify the sender and delete the email immediately.
From: Alexander Rony
Thanks for your help with this request; I really appreciate it.
Sincerely,
Alexander Rony
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