Release the names

Last month Lynn Fazekas submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to obtain the names of the city council members who are signed up for the City of DeKalb’s health insurance plan. Her request, sent to the duly-trained and designated FOIA officer (Steve Kapitan), was referred to the City’s Legal Department who denied the request, because:

The City Legal Department asserts that HIPAA prohibits the City from disclosing whether somebody even has health insurance not just the treatment somebody has received or medical information about a person.

Fazekas was not satisfied with the decision and appealed. She recently was included in a cc’d formal letter from the Illinois Attorney General’s office to Steve Kapitan, City Clerk. The letter, dated June 22, 2010, confirmed the AG’s Public Access Counselor has “determined that further inquiry into this matter is warranted.”

from the office of the Illinois Attorney General

So it appears the City of DeKalb either has to prove its an entity covered by 45 C.F.R. or release the names of the city council members who receive health insurance from the City.

Here’s hoping the City chooses the latter. Save us from further embarrassment. The legal department had no business intervening in this FOIA request. It looks real bad to force taxpayers into paying for the local legal department and the state’s attorney general office time in this matter of transparency. It’s even worse when the question is which elected official is receiving a benefit at taxpayers’ expense.

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For full disclosure: Fazekas ran for mayor in the last election. I was a volunteer in her campaign. She is an advocate of good government. She continues to contribute to better government with or without anyone’s permission.