Freedom Of Information Foundation Of Texas Notes George Scott’s Role In Effort To Protect Public Information Act

Last year’s aborted effort by Supt. Alton Frailey and the Katy I.S.D. School Board to weaken provisions of the Texas Public Information Act earned the attention of the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas.  So too did the publisher of George Scott Reports.

Here’s a link to the organization’s website

A recent publication of the statewide organization called attention to George Scott’s forceful role in protesting Frailey’s plan to include a major change in the law in Katy I.S.D.’s legislative agenda.

Frailey and the Board originally planned to ask the Texas Legislature to require citizens using the public information act to explain exactly why they wanted the information and to state the public good that would result.

Scott, who was in the process of establishing George Scott Reports at the time, appeared before the District’s Board to strongly protest the proposal.  Frailey withdrew the proposal at the meeting. It was the only one of his Legislative proposals to suffer that fate that night.

In its report on the matter, the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas wrote: ”Frailey pulled the resolution after George Scott said the change would strike at the heart of the public’s right to know.”

Looking back over the past five months since he formally established George Scott Reports, Scott said that Frailey’s early effort to weaken the public information act, although withdrawn under pressure, foreshadowed a disturbing trend.

“Frailey is like a lot of government officials especially including superintendents,” Scott said. “They like to shape and control the message.  They don’t like to be challenged on their official view of the issues.”

“If it were not for the public information act, getting real news from this District that is not filtered through public relations would be virtually impossible,” Scott said. “It was an embarrassment to Frailey personally and the District collectively that they even thought about their gambit.  Fortunately, it failed - this time.”

While Scott has been critical of the local news media’s coverage of Katy I.S.D. issues since that event, he does note that both The Katy Sun and The Houston Chronicle gave significant publicity to the issue at the time.  That especially included a powerful editorial from The Houston Chronicle.

Scott responded to the organization’s story on the subject with a letter of gratitude.

He wrote the organization that its calling attention to the role of the publisher of George Scott Reports in this matter would help the credibility of the Report which has made extensive use of the public information act over the past five months.

“We have used the act to obtain information on a wide variety of matters on which we have reported.  This ranges from bond matters to curriculum issues,” Scott said.  ”I have been a part of the traditional media for many years.  It is important that everyone involved in the reporting on government take any attempt to weaken the public information act seriously.”

“I believed then and believe now that Frailey’s desire to change the law was a reaction in part to the public information requests that I had submitted in preparation for launching George Scott Reports,” Scott said. “I used to be a professional journalist.  Now I consider myself a citizen journalist.  The one thing all have in common is the fact that public information does not belong to Alton Frailey or any government official.  As the power of government grows, citizens must be extra vigilant in protecting their access to information.”

“Now that I am pursuing government reporting in a non-traditional medium without the traditional power-base of print and broadcast mediums, I am more dependent than ever on the public information act,” Scott said.  ”I deeply appreciate the recognition that was given, in effect, to my Report’s efforts.”