Albrights’ FOI fight spotlighted on PBS
By Megan Rowe
Daily Progress staff writer 3.17.06
MONTEBELLO – When Lee and Paulette Albright began using the Virginia Freedom of Information Act to get details about why a nearby fish hatchery had been closed, PBS and Sunshine Week were the last things on their minds.
Four years later, the Nelson County couple (has been) featured in a seven-minute segment during the PBS news program “Now.” As part of Sunshine Week, which encourages open government and public access to records, the hour-long episode feature(d) people who have questioned local, state and federal government policies.
Not only did the Albrights ask questions and seek information when the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries closed the fish hatchery near their Montebello farm, they went to court and successfully fought a $3,000 charge for department records.
Program link: http://www.pbs.org/now/politics/albrights.html
“It was a series of moves where they closed [the hatchery] and they opened it and then they closed it and they opened it,” Lee Albright said. “To us it seemed to be motivated by politics. The finances didn’t seem to be the driving factor.”
When they were filmed for the “Now” episode, “we talked about how you can use FOIA to get information and some of the problems that we encountered,” Paulette Albright said. “An agency that would prefer not to share information can do things like delay. They can overcharge you to discourage you from getting information.”
“I use three words,” Lee Albright added. “Delay, inconvenience and overcharge.”
One of the couple’s first FOIA requests was a list of the game department’s employees and salaries. From there, they worked their way up to requesting information about specific expenses, an inquiry that led to the discovery of an unauthorized African safari taken by department employees. Taxpayers funded about $12,000 of the trip, the Albrights discovered.
Ultimately, a whistleblower called the state’s fraud, waste and abuse hotline, which led to the resignation of two department employees.
Until the hatchery closed, the couple had never used FOIA to request information. In dealing with the game department, the Albrights started by trying to ask officials questions but quickly discovered that “they don’t have to answer questions,” Paulette Albright said.
“You have to know what to ask for [when filing a FOIA request], such as the American Express credit card statement,” Paulette Albright said.
“Even those were somewhat misleading,” Lee Albright added. “You had to ask for the actual receipts for the items purchased.”
PBS senior correspondent Maria Hinojosa said the network decided to feature the Albrights after a senior producer read about them. The Albrights’ story appealed to her because it was an example of non-partisan participatory democracy.
“Here they are, a couple that has never questioned the government,” she said. “And suddenly, when they do, they come across a wall of silence and confusion. What I loved about them is that it didn’t put them off.”