Barack Obama will require his appointees who lead the Executive Branch departments and rulemaking agencies to conduct the significant business of the agency in public, so that any citizen can see in person or watch on the Internet as the agencies debate and deliberate the issues that affect American society. Videos of meetings will be archived on the web, and the transcript will be available to the public. Obama will also require his appointees to commit to employ all the technological tools available to allow average citizens not just to observe, but to participate and be heard on the issues that affect their daily lives. Obama will require Cabinet officials to have periodic 21st Century Fireside Chats, restore meaning to the Freedom of Information Act, and conduct regulatory agency business in public.
–Obama Campaign position paper, September 22, 2008
Hold 21st Century Fireside Chats: Obama will bring democracy and policy directly to the people by requiring his Cabinet officials to have periodic national broadband townhall meetings to discuss issues before their agencies.
We learned earlier this week that Barack Obama’s campaign commitment regarding the Freedom of Information Act has not been met — he’s denied Freedom of Information requests in greater numbers than George W. Bush. But there was more to Obama’s campaign commitment than Freedom of Information requests. What about his other measurable commitments for the heads of his departments in the executive branch? Are videos of executive branch meetings being archived on the web? Are transcripts being posted? Are the various branch heads holding “21st Century Fireside Chats”?
Over the next few days, we’ll assess the performance of various departments in the Obama administration in meeting these campaign pledges. Today, we’ll look at the Department of Justice.
21st Century Fireside Chats at the Department of Justice
On January 27, 2010, Attorney General Eric Holder (the cabinet-level head of the Department of Justice) posted a video to DOJ web page entitled “The Attorney General’s Report to the American People.” Tested on multiple computers, the video does not play in the Internet Explorer, Firefox or Google. In any case, this video does not satisfy the Obama administration’s definition of a “21st Century Fireside Chat” as a “national broadband townhall meeting to discuss issues before their agencies,” since in a townhall meeting discussion citizens have the opportunity to ask questions.
DOJ department meeting videos and transcripts
The Department of Justice “videos” page features 8 videos, none of which is of a department meeting in which agency officials “debate and deliberate the issues that affect American society.” Apart from transcripts of 2002 departmental meetings on DNA backlogs, no DOJ departmental meeting transcripts are available on the department’s website either by search or through the DOJ Office of Public Affairs list of publicly available documents.
DOJ Verdict:
21st Century Fireside Chat commitment not met
Departmental meeting webcast commitment not met
Departmental meeting transcript commitment not met
