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Workshop to help citizens access government info

| August 14, 2010 9:00 PM

COEUR d’ALENE — Know what you want to know.

And know it quickly.

The Idaho Freedom Foundation, a research, public policy and government watchdog organization, will hold a workshop in Coeur d’Alene next week to explain the ins and outs of Idaho public records law, information requests, and how to get info to which taxpayers are entitled.

“There are a lot of people who are looking for ways to get a handle on the interworking of government,” said Wayne Hoffman, executive director. “If you don’t know how to use those tools it can be a frustrating process.”

The key is knowing what to ask for and what to leave out, Hoffman said, and how to avoid long delays for documents and how to respond if your request for records is denied.

The goal of the inaugural workshop, which will visit cities across Idaho and could become a regular event in Coeur d’Alene, is teach people to retrieve the details on how their tax dollars are spent. Or for people who just have a lot of questions about how cities, counties, schools and highway districts operate.

“People have been looking for information from government agencies for years but there’s a huge interest right now,” Hoffman said. “They know they can’t fix Congress but they can fix their local governments.”

The meeting will go over the state’s open meetings law and discuss ways to hold elected officials accountable. Hoffman has more than 20 years of experience asking government agencies for records as a means to promote transparency. IFF operates OurIdaho.com, a government transparency website that provides state expenditure data and salary information on thousands of state and local government employees.

The workshop begins at 6 p.m. Thursday in the Coeur d’Alene Public Library’s Gozzer Room.