March 5, 1997
The Honorable Albert B. Gore, Jr.
President of the Senate
Washington, D.C. 20510-6250
Dear Mr. President:
This is the calendar year 1996 annual report of the
U.S. Office of Government Ethics (OGE), filed under 5 U.S.C.
§ 552(e) of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). This OGE FOIA
report is submitted for referral to our Senate oversight committee,
care of The Honorable Fred Thompson, Chairman, Senate Committee on
Governmental Affairs.
(1) OGE received a total of 35 FOIA requests (including two
administrative appeals) during 1996. Of these requests, 14 were
granted in full (and OGE reaffirmed one determination in response
to a requester's second request), six were granted in part and
denied in part, two were denied in full, and eight had no
responsive records at all. Also, two requests were referred to
other agencies, and one referral was reaffirmed. Finally, OGE
consulted with another agency on a FOIA request that it had
received for certain OGE documents. The FOIA exemptions upon which
OGE based partial or full denials (and the frequency of reliance
thereon for each) were as follows: (b)(3) (section 105 of the
Ethics in Government Act, 5 U.S.C. app. § 105) (invoked two times);
(b)(4) (two times); (b)(5) (five times); (b)(6) (eight times); and
(b)(7)(C) (one time).
(2) Two administrative appeals were taken by persons under
FOIA subsection (a)(6) during 1996. In one appeal, the initial
determination that OGE had no responsive records was upheld. In
the other, the denial of access to records, based on FOIA
exemptions (b)(5) and (b)(6) was upheld as proper.
(3) The OGE officials responsible for the eight partial or
complete denials of requests received by this Agency in 1996 were
the General Counsel F. Gary Davis, who handled seven of them, and
Deputy General Counsel Marilyn L. Glynn, who handled one. Then OGE
Deputy Director Donald E. Campbell handled the first of OGE's two
administrative appeal decisions in 1996, upholding the initial
determination of no responsive records. The second appeal
decision, upholding a denial, was handled later in 1996 by
Mr. Davis, who by then was also serving as OGE Deputy Director.
(4) OGE was not involved in any FOIA subsection (a)(4)(F)
proceedings in 1996. This Agency was involved in two court cases
in 1996 in which OGE's FOIA withholding and other determinations
were found to have been proper. See Judicial Watch, Inc. v.
Clinton, 76 F.3d 1232 (D.C. Cir. 1996), affirming 880 F. Supp. 1
(D.D.C. 1995) and Schwarz v. OGE, No. 96-0594 (D.C. Cir., per
curiam Order filed Oct. 23, 1996), affirming No. 96CV00528 (D.D.C.,
Memorandum & Order filed Mar. 18, 1996).
(5) OGE did not publish any amendments to its final FOIA rules
(as codified at 5 C.F.R. part 2604) during 1996.
(6) OGE's FOIA fee schedule is found at subpart E of 5 C.F.R.
part 2604. No FOIA fees were collected by OGE in 1996 for
processing the 35 requests it received.
(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) -- no such fees were collected in
1996.
* * * * *
If there are any questions about this report, the OGE contact
person for this report is Mr. Gressman, who can be reached at
202-208-8000, extension 1110.
Sincerely,
Stephen D. Potts
Director