Free Press Asks for Details

Ask and someone shall FOIA it for you…

A couple of days ago, I wondered why it was that DOJ would decide to intervene against Net Neutrality–months after the comment period to do so closed. Well, Free Press was wondering the same thing and has submitted a FOIA request to find out. They’re asking for:

1. All shared or public calendars of the above-named employees for the above-noted dates, including, but not limited to, entries listing all meetings with non-government individuals, businesses, trade associations and/or other organizations and the subject of the meeting.
2. All email or print correspondence, during the above-noted dates, to or from any of the above-named employees concerning the FCC’s Broadband Industry Practices inquiry, or including the words “network neutrality,” “net neutrality,” or “broadband industry.”
3. All email or print correspondence on any subject during the above-noted dates between the above-named employees and any employee of, or attorney, government relations specialist, or lobbyist for: AT&T, Verizon, Comcast, Time Warner, Hands off the Internet, NetCompetition.org, Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association, US Telecom Association, Qwest, Cisco Systems, and Corning Inc.
4. Any studies, assessments, reports, or factual data (or drafts of studies, assessments, reports, or factual data) gathered, during the above-noted time period, by the above-named employees or any other employees in the Antitrust Section of the DOJ, which were prepared in drafting the September 6 network neutrality ex parte referenced above.

And the employees they’re asking about are Thomas O. Barnett, Deborah A. Garza, Nancy M. Goodman, Laury Bobbish, Rebekah P. Goodheart, W. Robert Majure, and Jeffrey Wilder. Alberto Gonzales, Paul J. McNulty, William Mercer, Craig S. Morford, and Gregory G. Katsas.

If it were up to me, I’d specifically ask for communications from Lobbyist In Chief Ed Gillespie, since he’s a former lobbyist for the companies in bold. It’s kind of the MO of this Administration to have the orders flow directly from the White House to those who execute those orders.

But it probably doesn’t matter anyway. After all–it’s not like this DOJ is all that responsive to FOIA requests, anyway.