March 6, 1998
The Honorable Newt
Gingrich
Speaker of the House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515-6028
Dear Mr. Speaker:
This is the final calendar year-based annual report of the
U.S. Office of Government Ethics (OGE), filed under the prior
version of paragraph (e) of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA),
as previously codified at 5 U.S.C. § 552(e), for the nine-month
period of January 1, 1997, to September 30, 1997. Future annual
reports of OGE will be made on a fiscal year basis to the
Department of Justice as well as being placed on OGE's Web site
(address: http://www.usoge.gov) in accordance with the 1996
Electronic FOIA Amendments (Public Law No. 104-231). This
particular OGE FOIA report is being submitted to you in duplicate
for referral to our two House oversight committees, care of The
Honorable Stephen Horn, Chairman, Subcommittee on Government
Management, Information, and Technology, House Committee on
Government Reform and Oversight, and The Honorable Charles T.
Canady, Chairman, Subcommittee on the Constitution, House Committee
on the Judiciary.
(1) OGE received a total of 37 FOIA requests (including one
administrative appeal of a fee waiver denial) during the first nine
months of 1997. (Four of the requests (including one
administrative appeal) also cited the Privacy Act, 5 U.S.C. § 552a;
OGE had no responsive Privacy Act records as to any of them.) Of
these FOIA requests, 19 were granted in full, one was granted for
records available at OGE, five were granted in part and denied in
part, four were denied in full, three had no responsive records,
two were not resolved at the end of the reporting period, one was
not a proper FOIA request, one involved a fee waiver request which
was denied (both initially (twice) and once on administrative
appeal). These totals include OGE determinations regarding
consultations with other agencies that received FOIA requests for
certain OGE-originated documents. OGE also referred to and
consulted with other agencies as to responsive records in its files
originating with them. The FOIA exemptions upon which OGE based
partial or full denials (and the frequency of reliance thereon for
each) were as follows: (b)(3) (four times for section 105 of the
Ethics in Government Act, 5 U.S.C. app. § 105, and once for
section 107 of the Ethics Act, 5 U.S.C. app. § 107 (and
section 201(d) of E.O. 12674/12731 and subpart I of 5 C.F.R.
part 2634); (b)(4) (nine times); (b)(5) (ten times); (b)(6) (nine
times); and (b)(7)(C) (one time).
(2) One administrative appeal was taken under FOIA
subsection (a)(6) during this reporting period. In this appeal, a
fee waiver denial was upheld as proper.
(3) The OGE officials responsible for the nine partial or
complete denials of requests received by this Agency during this
reporting period were the General Counsel Marilyn L. Glynn, who
handled two, and the Deputy General Counsel Stuart D. Rick, who
handled seven (and also determined to deny a fee waiver request
twice). The OGE Deputy Director F. Gary Davis handled the
administrative appeal decision upholding the initial fee waiver
denial determination.
(4) OGE was not involved in any FOIA subsection (a)(4)(F)
proceedings nor any FOIA litigation during this reporting period.
(5) OGE did not publish any amendments to its FOIA regulations
(as codified at 5 C.F.R. part 2604) during the reporting period.
(6) OGE's FOIA fee schedule is found at subpart E of 5 C.F.R.
part 2604. Fees for one FOIA request were in the process of being
assessed, but were not finalized at the end of the reporting
period; thus, none were collected.
(7) OGE does not have a backlog for processing FOIA requests.
This Agency has designated a senior attorney, William E. Gressman,
as its FOIA contact person. Other Agency staff also assist in
handling OGE's FOIA workload. Both Mr. Gressman and the back-up
personnel attend various Justice Department and other FOIA training
sessions and meetings from time to time in order to enhance their
FOIA skills. Moreover, OGE operates a separate public availability
system under the Ethics in Government Act as to SF 278 Public
Financial Disclosure Reports filed by high-level executive branch
officials subject to Presidential appointment and confirmation by
the Senate and certain other records covered by the Ethics Act
access provisions. OGE has regulations on fees for voluminous
requests for access to such reports under the Ethics Act (see
subpart G of 5 C.F.R. part 2604) -- two such fees, for a total of
$53.58, were collected during this January-September 1997 reporting
period.
If there are any questions about this report, the OGE contact
person is Mr. Gressman (telephone: 202-208-8000, ext. 1110).
Sincerely,
Stephen D. Potts
Director