Team Christie Fights the Power

This gives a bizarrely comic new meaning to government transparency and good government generally. Open records requests, FOIAs and the like are meant to keep those in power accountable and allow citizens to know what governments are doing in their name. There’s always a balance between legitimate secrecy and the people’s right to know; almost all people in power want to keep information tight. But things take a bizarre new turn when the most powerful elected officials use open records requests to find out what people and the press know about them. (Think about that for a second.) The private legal team representing the office of Chris Christie has in recent days been making open records requests to city officials in Fort Lee and Hoboken, New Jersey to find out what they’ve been telling and what documents they’ve been giving to members of the press, among other things. Eric Lach has the full story.