Records are completely available under the Freedom of Information Act.
If you want to know who Gephardt Called on a particular day, for a particular reason, you fill out the forms and request specific information about that day. Unless there is some pressing issue of national security for ALL of the call on that day, you get the list, and if some are of national secrity, those areas are blacked out.
If YOU work for the government, even your application for the job is available under the freedom of information act, your test results for any tests you take for promotion, your performance evaluations, and so on. Only information that might allow a person to endager or stalk you is blacked out.
AS for those who say of Deans records "Everything in those records is already known"
There is then NO reason for sealing them"
or for Dean to State:
Dean Defends Sealing His Papers as Governor
By JODI WILGOREN
Published: December 2, 2003
A conservative group based in Washington, Judicial Watch, plans to file a lawsuit, perhaps as soon as this week, to gain access to the records, which were sealed under the executive privilege exemption to the Vermont Public Records Act and include reams of correspondence with the state staff.
"He has been acting like he has something to hide," said Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch.
Dr. Dean, who initially asked that the records be sealed for 24 years, told Vermont Public Radio before he left office last year that he sought a longer grace period because "we didn't want anything embarrassing appearing in the papers at a critical time in any future endeavor."
"It would be impossible to anticipate how opponents might mis/use even the most innocuous of documents," Mr. Sanford wrote to Mr. Rocchio in the summer of 2002. "Setting new barriers to access in an attempt to anticipate attacks would be, at best, unfortunate. Ironically, such barriers would probably become an issue, detracting from the governor's proud record of achievement.
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/02/national/02DEAN.htmlAmong the things still unknown are Deans telephone records to key players in the sale of Vermont Yankee to Entergy/Koch Industries.
His telephone logs and the people to whom he spoke while Dean was involved with the decision to grant the sale to this company, rather than other companies who requested the purchase agreements earlier, and who did not give donations to Deans campaign presidential campaign.
Dean statements on Hardball about protecting confidential information such as correspondence between him abnd someone who was H.I.V. positive, or other similar personal communications of a confidential nature, say someone who worked for a Vermont Department who was aware that their boss was doing something illegal, but wanted to remain private are also the types of communications that would be ROUTINELY sealed and would be totally unavailable even if Dean had not sealed his records, as well as any information that was of a senatitive nature regarding national security, such as a letter to Dean about possible terrorist activity that might be of a nature that would compromise an investigation to prevent a terrorist bombing, too would be sealed, and kept confindential under both federal and Vermont State laws. These would automatically be redacted under both state an federal privacy laws, so Deans argument in this area holds no water.
The only thing Dean is trying to do is to keep the public from knowing things that he has done that might cause some people to decide that they did not want to vote for a person who made decisions of a pericular nature. These might not necessarily be bad, or illegal, or unethical, but they are of value to those who take particular stands or have particular beleifs about certain issues, and for these people Dean would not be the optimal candidate in their opinion and so they would perhaps decide to not vote for Dean and then vote for Clark or another candidate.
Deans actual statement that he didnt want the public who might decide not to vote for him because of decisions that he made as a Governor, or conversations he had while acting in the capactity of Governor which people had the right to know in order to make an informed decision about their voting for Dean however is a clear violation of the Vermont Constitution as well as the First Amendment.
Wanting to keep parts of ones record as an elected public official performing ones duty as chief executive of a state is not a legal reason for wanting records sealed. They are not legal for Bush either and legal rights organizations in Texas and nationally are engaged in trying to have Bush's records as Governor unsealed.
Dean sole reasoning for sealing the record was to keep the electorate in the dark about questionable acts and decisions while he was governor. Not to protect individual's privacy, or for reasons of security. To protect himself.
I knew that this would the issue to be brought up as near to the first primaries and caucuses. It is the most damning aspect of Deans campaign and if Dean does not open them, there will be people who decide they will change their vote, and if he does open them, there are other people who will decide that they do not want to vote for Dean any longer becasue of some of the contents of the records.
Some will simply decide that they do not want to risk another Bill Clinton type scenario, in which something that is "EMBARASSING " pops up and creates a situation which is favorable for the Republicans.
Others seeing that Dean perhaps had a lot of telephone calls to the people who gave him donations while Vermont Yankee was being sold might not be comfortable with that.
Others who see the full record of his phone calls and memos regarding the veto of pharmaceutical legislation in 1996, who would have benefited from the legislation that Dean veto'd after receiving campign contributions from the pharmaceutical companies who were lobbying for the bills defeat might not want to vote for Dean if they had full knowledge of why Dean veto'd it, regardless of whetther it was done because they beleive that Deans Veto was bought, or just do not feel comfortable with the fact that Dean did not behave in a manner that they thought ethical by taking the money and not being open about the situation until AFTER it was revealed by others that this happened, rather than Dean immediately stating, yes, the donated to me, but that had not effect on my decision. Dean had to be caught in the appearance of having his hand in the cookie jar beore he tarted explaining.
Either way, this situation is not favorable to Dean and is favorable to Bush.
As Sancho Panza said in Man Of La Mancha
"Whether the Stone hits thr pitcher, or the pitcher hits the stone, its going to be pretty bad for the pitcher"