By Rand Paul
Obama acts as though we no longer have a Constitution
Independent voices from the TWT Communities
The researcher who exposed former EPA chief Lisa P. Jackson's private email account is now taking aim at her potential successor — and is expanding the inquiry into the world of mobile phone text messages, which are shaping up as the next frontier in open-records legal battles.
The Environmental Protection Agency said Monday that it will retrain all employees on how to comply with open-records laws and acknowledged that it needs to do better at storing instant-message communications, after the agency came under severe fire from members of Congress who say it appears to have broken those laws.
A study has found that more federal court complaints were filed during the first term of the Obama administration to force the government to abide by the Freedom of Information Act than were filed against the administration of President George W. Bush in his second term.
The Environmental Protection Agency this week acknowledged that Administrator Lisa P. Jackson has a second official email that she uses for important communications, but said it's a standard practice and doesn't shield her from open-records requests.
At the start of a three-nation tour of Southeast Asia, President Obama joked Sunday with a Buddhist monk in Thailand that he could use some prayer to help reach a budget deal with Republican lawmakers to avert a fiscal crisis back in the U.S.
A House committee has launched an investigation into whether EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson used an email alias to try to hide correspondence from open-government requests and her agency's own internal watchdog — something that Republican lawmakers said could run afoul of the law.
A former University of Virginia professor who has drawn the ire of climate change skeptics is entering the legal fray over a conservative group's pursuit of his emails and documents related to his work.
Trying to head that off, Mr. Horner wrote a long footnote in his FOIA request detailing the kinds of things he believes should be covered: "SMS or MMS messages, all electronic messages between two or more mobile phones or fixed or portable devices over a phone network that are not sent from an email client.
Feds hide behind potential text message loophole in sunshine law →
Mr. Horner said he has been told she sent some particularly "salty" messages during times when she appeared before congressional committees.
Feds hide behind potential text message loophole in sunshine law →
