Interesting Documents in Change.Gov FOIA Request

[Ben]

Story below, interesting FOIA documents at the link. I'm seeing this kind of ,"break the rules for Obama, It's OBAMA man!" stuff all over the .gov and no one seems to care.  "Rock and roll".  :rolleyes:  (and they actually wrote that in an official document)


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http://michellemalkin.com/2008/12/20/document-drop-the-story-behind-changegov/

Document drop: The story behind Change.gov
By Michelle Malkin  •  December 20, 2008 09:52 AM

I’ve obtained documents sent to a reader in response to his FOIA request regarding the creation of Barack Obama’s Change.gov website. It gives you the rest of the story. You’ll recall last month that I blogged several questions about the propriety of allowing the perpetual Obama campaign to use a .gov domain name for what appeared to be a fund-raising front. Readers and industry observers noted that the decision appeared to violate General Services Administration rules governing government domains.

Guess what? They were right. The FOIA documents sent to Lance O., which he forwarded to me, reveal that the GSA initially rejected Obama’s application for “Change.gov.” On Oct. 21, Peter Alterman, Deputy Associate Administrator of Technology Strategy at the GSA, denied the Obama campaign’s request for a government domain because:

1) It would be a a violation of the government’s naming conventions (too generic); and

2) using ‘change’ in the domain name would be political, since it was the trademark slogan of the Obama campaign.

The day after the election, on Nov. 5, GSA Chief Information Officer Casey Coleman overruled Alterman after apparently receiving a waiver from Chris Lu, Executive Director of Obama’s Transition Project. As reader Lance discovered through his FOIA request, Ms. Coleman did not elaborate on the granting of this waiver except to say that she had “determined that it is in the best interest of the Federal Government to register the subject domain name.”

As another GSA official who facilitated the convenient change in policy regarding change.gov exulted to the Obama campaign after the domain was granted, “Rock and roll!”

Thanks to reader Lance for filing the FOIA request and giving us a peek into the GSA bureaucracy for change.

[sumpnz]

[slowly shaking head smiley]

[Tallpine]

It's a good thing that the Obama transition team granted the Obama transition team a waiver - otherwise they would have to play by the rules like all of us mere mortals.

[Sergeant Bob]

The day after the election, on Nov. 5, GSA Chief Information Officer Casey Coleman overruled Alterman after apparently receiving a waiver from Chris Lu, Executive Director of Obama's Transition Project. As reader Lance discovered through his FOIA request, Ms. Coleman did not elaborate on the granting of this waiver except to say that she had "determined that it is in the best interest of the Federal Government her job under an Obama administration to register the subject domain name."

Thoroughly disgusting, albeit not surprising. Nothing will ever come of this.

It's a good thing that the Obama transition team granted the Obama transition team a waiver - otherwise they would have to play by the rules like all of us mere mortals.

Indeed.

[Fly320s]

Unfotunatly, no actual laws were violated.   

[Boomhauer]

Unfotunatly, no actual laws were violated.   

Not that that would have made a lick of difference...