In 2015, Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette was caught advising departments of the Michigan state government to discourage a Freedom of Information Act request by charging $52,000 in fees in order to fulfill it.* But earlier this week, Schuette claimed that expanding FOIA is part of his run for the governor’s office. In response, State Rep. Jeremy Moss (D-Southfield) issued the following statement:
“State Attorney General Bill Schuette has been off duty in helping us expand and strengthen Michigan’s Freedom of Information Act. His track record as Michigan’s top attorney shows his utter contempt for a citizen’s First Amendment freedom to petition our government. I never once heard from him during the two terms I spent drafting a bipartisan package of bills in the House which would strengthen our state’s open records law by opening up the governor’s office to FOIA requests and bringing similar legislation to the State Legislature.
“Now, he has a sudden change of heart. If that is a genuine gesture, I’d like to enlist him to tell his own party leaders in the State Senate to stop stalling and move our transparency bills, which the House sent to the Upper Chamber in a unanimous vote nearly a year ago. Until then, I don’t take Schuette at his word when he talks about transparency in government.”
