Thursday's OMA/FOIA seminar open

Thursday's seminar by the Office of the McHenry County State's Attorney (SAO) on the Open Meetings Act and the Freedom of Information Act is open to the public.

My heart skipped a beat today when I read the press release issued on April 29th by the SAO. It reads that the the seminar is for "Elected and Appointed Officials." I thought I might have to don a disguise and sneak in, but my worries were eased quickly through a telephone call to the SAO today.

A representative of the Office of the Illinois Attorney General is scheduled to be there. The seminar is Thursday, May 14, 7:00-9:00PM in the McHenry County College "Auditorium" (also known as the Conference Center).

Have you submitted a FOIA Request, only to have it denied by an agency's Freedom of Information Act Officer and also denied on appeal within that agency? Have you ever received the information after the first denial, when you dissected the denial in your appeal? I have.

But I've never hauled an agency in Circuit Court. I know it can be done. All it takes is a lawyer and money. Maybe we can find out how to get it into Circuit Court without a lawyer (and without getting buried in Motions by the agency's lawyer(s); all at taxpayer expense, of course) and with little or no money.