Trademark law aside, I love you, bro.

That is one wacky request. I'm all for transparency from public officials, mind you, but this is some interesting shenanigans.

Good thing I paid cash when I bought him a Maserati.

What's the deal with public record requests in Washington State? Is the requester obligated to, you know, pay for the cost of fulfilling the request, like so much per page plus so much per hour of research? Because, you know, if they are, I say hire 1000 unemployed temps for a year of double-shift overtime, print out 10 billion pieces of paper and make the GOP an unofficial benefactor of the city, or broke, whichever comes first.

Given the billions Seattle has spent on various computer systems, I would think it's all push of a button. Wouldn't you?

Hello, McGinn scolds, here's your ally! You can pick up your WSRP membership at the door.

I love the mayor. It's healthy to fawn over electeds sometimes, it's a proven fact!

@5,

No, every single record has to be gone over to make sure there's no privileged information, and to redact any that is. Large requests like this can be extremely labor intensive, time consuming and expensive to fulfill.

gus! I haven't seen you all day! (sorry: "mayor," seattle," "unbelievable!")

Canuck, dear! Happy Wednesday evening to you! (sorry: "abuse of public's right to know"'..."repuglican fools"..."key cards WTF!?")

@10, @11 You both rock.

fees

"For non-commercial-use requesters there is no charge for the first two hours of search time or for the first 100 pages of duplication or their cost equivalent. " After that it's time and materials. At least that's the way the DOJ and other federal departments handle it. I don't know Seattle's policy.

I'm pretty sure the city of Seattle charges for public record requests.

"The time-stamp (and date of) of any proximity card (official card that opens any doors/garage) used by Mr. McGinn at any city office or building."

Fucking Republicans, no respect for an individual's privacy! I bet he'd love a tracking device affixed directly to his person.

Matt @13, Seattle is bound by the State public records act, first enacted in 1972 after an overwhelming voter initiative campaign rooted in eliminating corruption in political campaign contributions. It requires every state and local agency to charge only 15 cents a page. It's forbidden to charge for search time.

The idea is that all information about public business belongs to the public. Can't hide our nformation behind a paywall or cough up dribs and drabs by requiring limited requests. A price worth paying, in my view. Remember the fight over disclosing the antigay R-71 petition signers? That was over the petitions being public records.

The downside is, well, the Wilbur Effect.

Here's the law as unified in 2006:
http://apps.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?…

Locally, the council keeps a pretty sharp eye making sure
city agencies keep to both the letter and spirit of the PRA.

http://www.ballardnewstribune.com/2009/0…

One of Nickels' last acts was signing the November 2009 order outlining procedures for the Executive Branch to follow. Those will guide their response to Wilbur on behalf of McGinn.

(p.s. I'm clocking out, so goodnight Canuck, and pshaw, wisepunk!)

I'm missing too much good stuff going to bed early...Wisepunk, you're a cutie pie! And gus, gus, someday I will figure out what you do...for now, I imagine you're some kind of local politics/movie industry superhero in a cape (a really well-designed cape, of course)...if you and Fnarf ever play the Seattle edition of Trivial Pursuit, I will buy tickets to watch. (My money will be on you, of course, after Fnarf suggested you might be bald...hmph.)

There's a bill working its way through the Legislature to actually charge the professional time it takes to locate and vet all the documents requested by perennial requesters.

It's a bad bill but unfortunately, requests like this from Republican Mr. Wilbur only gives weight to it.

The one time I listened to Wilbur's talk radio program he was telling listeners to go to a multiplex where a Michael Moore movie was playing and, after watching another movie, sneak into the Moore movie so they could see it without paying for it. Apparently no one called him on advocating theft.

He's trying to dig up a scandal, and if there's no actual wrongdoing he'll misrepresent or take something out of context in order to fabricate a fake scandal. He is trying to destroy your mayor using the same despicable tactics used by Republicans who tried to destroy Bill Clinton in the 1990s, and which will soon be used against President Obama. If there is any way this request can be declined, it should be. And if it can't be declined, the Stranger can help McGinn by giving similarly broad requests to Republican officeholders.

I don't know about any of the politics going on here, but my first reaction to this it sounds like a fun data mining project (which, I suppose, is why geeks like me should stay the hell away from politics).

An interesting, if obnoxiously broad request. The calendar request is pretty standard stuff. The text message request is perhaps aimed at getting the Public Disclosure Commission on the record that texts are just as much public records as e-mails.

Some of the other elements, such as McGinn's access card use, are new to me, but still fascinating. Given that Seattle isn't going to elect a Republican mayor any time soon, I'd say most of this is probably Dori Monson fodder.

Pretty impressive that $550 did all this:

All emails forwarded by City of Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn to any non-official City of Seattle Government email address.
Any request for personnel records/emails for City of Seattle Policemen from the Office of the Mayor of Seattle from Jan 1, 2010 through Feb. 8, 2011.
Mr. McGinn's official calendar from Jan. 1, 2010 through Feb. 8, 2011.
The time-stamp (and date of) of any proximity card (official card that opens any doors/garage) used by Mr. McGinn at any city office or building.
All text messages sent/received by Mr. McGinn using city devices.
All expense reports and details of vendor paid from Jan. 1, 2010 through Feb. 8, 2011 for Mr. McGinn.
Any paid or in-kinded items (equipment, trips, travel, food, etc) to Mr. McGinn, paid for by any non-City of Seattle Government entity.

I wonder if I could file a Public Information Request asking for "everything you got from Kirby."
Or maybe Kirby would send me a copy. (I'll pay the $6.45)