Florida

September 27, 2008: A circuit court judge on Friday set Dec. 1 as the trial date for an open-government lawsuit filed against nine current and former city officials.

The lawsuit, filed in May by Sarasota activist Anthony Lorenzo, alleges that the officials violated Florida's Government in the Sunshine Law by sending e-mails from their private computers discussing public business and failing to retain copies of them.

Besides setting the trial date, Judge Robert Bennett again ordered two City Council members to pay for experts to retrieve e-mails from their personal computers. Read the full article here.

Senators to force disclosure of Alligator Alley privatization plans
September 25, 2008: Concerned the state is rushing to sell off critical infrastructure, Senators Dave Aronberg (D-Greenacres) and Burt Saunders (R-Naples) today demanded that the Florida Department of Transportation turn over documents relating to its decision to move forward with the privatization of Alligator Alley. Read the full article here.

Dems, Reps trade barbs over public records request
September 23, 2008: Republican and Democrat leaders traded barbs Tuesday over a large public information request the Christine Jennings camp made from supervisor of Elections offices in Manatee and Sarasota counties.

Republican party chairs from both counties held a press conference on the footsteps of the Sarasota County Supervisor of Elections office to categorize Jennings' request as an apparent strategy to win the District 13 Congressional race by litigation. Read the full article here.

Transparency & Government

• Ten point checklist for statewide organizations
• Florida Transparency Advocacy Groups
• Florida government corruption
• Florida Transparency Legislation

School Districts

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• Florida Department of Education
• Florida School Spending

FOIA Laws

• FOIA procedures
• Past FOIA requests in Florida

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