Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

West Virginia Won't Release Broadband Report Because It Is 'Embarrassing'

Posted by Soulskill on from the i-just-bet-it-is dept.

An anonymous reader writes "The Charleston Gazette is reporting that the state of West Virginia hired a consulting firm for over $100,000 to investigate the state's use of Federal stimulus money (which included the purchase of $22,000 routers for tiny buildings). Unfortunately, the state government is now refusing a FOIA request to release the firm's report. The reason? The findings 'might be embarrassing to some people,' according to Commerce Secretary Keith Burdette."

9 of 183 comments (clear)

  1. Typo in summary by olsmeister · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Replace the word 'embarassing' with 'incriminating'.

    1. Re:Typo in summary by v1 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Replace the word 'embarassing' with 'incriminating'.

      Possibly, but not necessarily, or at least, not primarily. Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin is the one witholding the information. He's an elected official whose job is probably more to collect campaign contributions than to actually serve the public.

      He very likely discussed the content of that report with the "parties" he is protecting, and was told exactly where he wasn't going to be receiving any more money from if that evaluation wasn't buried. He's probably very well aware that it's going to get pried out of his hands and plastered on page 1 eventually, but this will at least give him a "but I tried to stop it!" when those parties blow up his phone, and he's hoping this will at least do a little damage control.

      But things like that can turn and bite you. This may be a very big thorn in his side, come election day. Depending on how close the competition is, his opposition may drag this issue back above ground for a month of mud slinging. But money can really help to bury things. Depends on how much he can throw at it, and how deep it needs to go.

      "Never give a man a gun unless you know where he's going to point it." Same goes for inviting in a team of investigators to get to the bottom of any mess you are even remotely related to. You'd better either make sure you're squeaky clean, or make sure their opinion is already properly paid for.

      --
      I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
  2. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot? by v1 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    how is that even a legal reason to refuse a Freedom of Information request? Last I checked, "we don't want to" isn't an acceptable reason to refuse.

    --
    I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
    1. Re:Whiskey Tango Foxtrot? by poity · · Score: 5, Insightful

      and embarrassing the government is the whole point of FOIA, so they stop doing things to embarrass themselves.

      --
      your thin skin doesn't make me a troll
    2. Re:Whiskey Tango Foxtrot? by wvmarle · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Isn't the very reason this FOIA thing was put together, was to force governments to release information they are reluctant to release for that very reason?

  3. Re:West Virginia is the butt... by el+borak · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I too honor the brave and ethical stance made by the WV leadership 150 years ago. However zero of that honor is conveyed to people simply because they happen to currently inhabit the same geographic area.

    --
    An imperfect plan executed violently is far superior to a perfect plan. -- George Patton
  4. Re:West Virginia is the butt... by oiron · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The #1 reason was the same sort of divisive party politics that continues to this day, with the same party names even. You know what the Republican fringe was saying about Obama during the last elections? That was pretty much what the Democrats were saying about Lincoln, except replace "socialism" with "abolitionism".

    Looks to me like it was the south that made slavery the issue on which they opposed Lincoln; divisive politics based on slavery...

    Then there was the whole movement from rural, agriculture-based societies to urban, industrial society. Always a cause for major upheaval. And guess what? East Virginia was mostly agricultural, and West Virginia was mostly coal mines (and thus economically aligned with the Northern cities they fueled).

    Slavery was part of that; industrial societies don't work so well with outright slave labour. Agricultural societies often do - or at least, more primitive ones based on large plantations.

  5. Re:This is what newspapers are for by Seumas · · Score: 4, Insightful

    We've already lost that. There are hardly any hard-nosed beat-reporters out there. Journalism in 2013 (and for most of the last fifteen years) has consisted of pulling down and repeating the AP feed and rehashing PR faxes.

  6. Re:FOIA by GNious · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Releasing it might put Government Officials and Elected Representatives' lives at risk.....when the general population see how poorly they've handled things.