NO RAYS OF SUNSHINE PENETRATING SUPERINTENDENT JON GURBAN'S OFFICE
By Arlene Fried Co-founder of Park Watch
Gov. Tim Pawlenty is not the only government official in Minnesota who is refusing to hand over official correspondence. On April 21 of this year I submitted a Data Request to the MPRB asking for three weeks of Superintendent Jon Gurban's correspondence. I wanted to see what Supt. Gurban was doing to justify his generous $140,000 salary. My request was on the Park Board's official form and submitted by U.S. Mail. I was asking for:
"All correspondence (both print & e-mail) generated & received by Supt. Gurban from March 24, 2008, to April 14, 2008."
As of today, three months later, I am still without a single piece of correspondence generated or received by Supt. Gurban as requested. This is the chronicle of how Supt. Gurban obstructed public access to the requested government documents.
On May 9 the Park Board's Data Practices compliance representative responded to my request as follows:
"I have received your request for all correspondence (both print and e-mail) generated and received by Supt. Gurban from March 24, 2009 to April 14, 2008. We ask that you please identify what information you are requesting so that I may respond completely."
I promptly responded by saying that "my request is not related to any specific topic; my request is as stated."
On June 2, I received the following arrogant and evasive e-mail:
"The status of this request is that we will only respond to a specific request identifying the subject or subjects about which you seek data. This was the reason for my original response sent May 9th seeking more information from you."
On June 5, I e-mailed the Data Practices compliance representative providing--as requested--the subject of my request:
"You can explain to Supt. Gurban that the identified subject of my request IS Supt. Gurban AND his activities on behalf of the Park Board as demonstrated by his communications (both print and e-mail) in his role as superintendent over a selected 3-week time span. I could have specified a longer time span, but decided to limit it to only the referenced 3-week period."
Even when I provided the identified subject as requested, no documents were provided. It is clear that Supt. Gurban has no intention of complying with the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act. Having received no responsive documents, I am now more curious than ever about what Supt. Gurban has been doing during this time period and why whatever he was doing could not be shared with the public.
In the meantime, I've had no problem with several other Data Requests I've submitted to the Park Board, MnDot and the city. In fact, in some instances, the responses have been as prompt as two days.