Political conversions

To Whom It May Concern:

I. Description of Records Sought

This is a request under the Freedom of Information Act for all emails exchanged between PoliticalConversions@opm.gov and any of the following agencies:

Bureau of Indian Affairs (bia.gov)
Bureau of Land Management (blm.gov)
Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (boem.gov)
Bureau of Reclamation (usbr.gov)
Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (bsee.gov)
Chemical Safety Board (csb.gov)
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (consumerfinance.gov or cfpb.gov)
Council on Environmental Quality (ceq.eop.gov)
Department of Agriculture (usda.gov)
Department of Energy (energy.gov or doe.gov)
Department of Interior (doi.gov)
Department of Justice (justice.gov)
Election Assistance Commission (eac.gov)
Environmental Protection Agency (epa.gov)
Federal Election Commission (fec.gov)
Fish & Wildlife Service (fws.gov)
Food & Drug Administration (fda.gov)
Forest Service (usfs.gov)
General Services Administration (gsa.gov)
Merit Systems Protection Board (mspb.gov)
National Labor Relations Board (nlrb.gov)
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (noaa.gov)
National Park Service (nps.gov)
Occupational Safety and Health Administration (osha.gov)
Office of Government Ethics (oge.gov)
Office of Management & Budget (omb.eop.gov)
Office of Special Counsel (osc.gov)
Office of Surface Mining Reclamation & Enforcement (osmre.gov)
US Geological Survey (usgs.gov)
US Postal Service (usps.com or usps.gov)
The White House (whitehouse.gov, wh.gov, or eop.gov)

Please limit your search from September 1, 2020 to the date this request is processed. Even though the emails should contain the names of the files that are attached, you may withhold the attached files themselves. You may exclude mass distribution emails that are unrelated to converting political appointees into career positions, such as enewsletters or news clippings.

II. Expedited Processing

In addition, I would like to ask that my request received expedited processing, given the urgent timeframe dictated by the transition. Inauguration Day 2021 is less than two months away, and articles have reported that the outgoing administration is transfering political staff into career positions at a much faster rate. In a related item to my request, federal agencies are rushing to prepare lists of employees who could be transferred into a new Schedule F designation by January 19, the day before Inauguration Day (see https://fcw.com/articles/2020/11/30/schedulef-burrowing-in-opm-house-dems.aspx).

The emails involving PoliticalConversions@opm.gov are related to an actual federal government activity: agency requests to appoint a current or former political appointee to a competitive service, non-political excepted service, or career SES position (see https://www.chcoc.gov/content/political-appointees-and-career-civil-service-positions-3). This will affect how smoothly the transition process occurs and who will be in charge of key offices and policies during this period and possibly the start of the new presidential administration. There is a clear public interest in disclosing how federal policies and operations change at the start of new administrations.

My professional role is primarily engaged in disseminating information to the public through blog posts, social media, press outreach support, and email communications that can reach up to millions of people. I certify that my reasons are true and correct.

III. Request for a Fee Waiver

I respectfully request that you waive all fees in connection with this request as provided by 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(4)(A)(iii). The Sierra Club is a national environmental nonprofit with no commercial interest in obtaining the requested information. Instead, our organization intends to analyze and disseminate the requested information free of charge so that the public can be better informed about the presidential transition and key officials in charge of protecting the environment, defending civil liberties, safeguarding our elections, and other key government functions.

The subject matter of the requested records is likely to contribute significantly to public understanding of the operations and activities of the government by disclosing which political appointees are being moved into career positions during the final days of a presidential administration, and about which policies and programs they will have oversight over.

The Sierra Club and its supporters have demonstrated interest and expertise in these topics. We have many established campaigns that work on public lands, climate change, clean water and air, toxic chemicals, environmental justice, transparent democracy, reliable mail delivery, and worker protections.

IV. Media Requester Status

In addition to the public interest fee waiver, I ask to be properly categorized as a representative of the news media. The bulk of my professional duties at the Sierra Club entails planning and writing content about public policy, including composing mass communications to our followers, analyzing FOIA responses, and engaging journalists. Here are some examples that resulted from my work:

1. https://sierraclub.org/planet/2017/04/hiring-freeze-prevented-epa-filling-hundreds-jobs
2. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2017/05/19/nearly-700-vacancies-at-cdc-because-of-trump-administration-hiring-freeze/
3. https://www.propublica.org/article/these-emails-show-a-trump-official-helping-her-former-chemical-industry-colleagues

The topic of "burrowing" political appointees into the ranks of career employees is one that is garnering a lot of media attention right now. Here are a few articles to demonstrate this fact:

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/527631-house-democrats-seek-list-of-trump-appointees-burrowing-in-to-biden
https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/politics/at-least-a-dozen-trump-political-appointees-approved-for-civil-servant-positions/2488098/
https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/24/politics/kash-patel-pentagon-transition/index.html

The Sierra Club has the ability and intention to disseminate the information it receives through this request. The information may be shared through emails to an audience reaching into the millions, Facebook and Twitter posts reaching tens of thousands of followers, articles on our often-visited website, and analysis provided to the media.

V. Exempt Records

Should you decide to invoke a FOIA exemption with regard to any of the requested records, please include in your response letter sufficient information for an appeal, including:

1. Basic factual material about each withheld item, including the originator, date, length, general subject matter, and location of each item.
2. Explanations and justifications for denial, including the identification of the category within the governing statutory provision under which the document (or portion thereof) was withheld and a full explanation of how each exemption fits the withheld material.

If you determine that portions of a requested record are exempt from disclosure, please redact the exempt portions and provide the remainder of the record.

VI. Record Delivery

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

Please produce the records on a rolling basis; at no point should the search for – or deliberation concerning – certain records delay the production of others that the agency has already retrieved and elected to produce.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your timely response.

Sincerely,
Alexander Rony
Sierra Club

Hi Ms. Carrington, I'm emailing you primarily because my FOIA tracking system was continuing to email the new FOIA request address, and I wanted to make sure any automated followup contacted you instead, as a December 4th OPM email indicated.

I would also like to know if there has been an update on expedited FOIA request #2021-01094. Your office may have released this exact information without the agency filter, and depending on the parameters I may accept those records if it saves your office time.

Have a good day,
Alexander Rony
Sierra Club