What is FOIA Gras?
This newsletter is concerned about transparency and accountability in government, primarily in the following locations:
Evanston
Skokie + Niles
Wilmette + New Trier
Most of the content of this newsletter are FOIA requests are on the local school district, District 65 Evanston/Skokie but I cover a range of topics.
I believe in the following precepts:
Transparency in governance is important to a well-functioning community.
Transparency includes both the financial and the political. Not just how money is being spent but why and to whose benefit.1
All government agencies should support transparency and not hide behind rules, exceptions, and political cover.
Lack of transparency leads to misuse of funds, lack of accountability, and a break down of trust in a community.
The death of local media (especially here in Suburban Chicagoland) has led to almost no transparency or accountability in local governance. This is especially true for smaller agencies, such as school boards. This role is fundamentally up to citizens now.
What are your comment section rules?
Discussion of national political topics is OK, given that it is relevant to the story and shows basic decorum (even if I disagree with the content). But I won’t tolerate lengthy debates over national policy issues or generic partisan talking points, I just don’t have the energy to moderate that kind of stuff. Here’s some examples:
Allowed: “Trump gutting the Department of Education is a tragedy for the folks involved, but it was mostly full of pencil pushing bureaucrats anyway.” 1
Not Allowed: “People who teach radical gender ideology or critical race theory are groomers!”
Please continue to respect my request to avoid discussion of private individuals who don’t sit at a dais during a public meeting, make public comments, or are running for office.
OK to discuss: Trump, Congresspeople, Representatives, Superintendent, CFO, Dr. Grossi, City Council Members, the Mayor, City Manager, City Clerk, Anyone running for Office, Public Comments made in public settings (in public meetings or other digital settings)
Not OK to discuss: Teachers, Principals, Vice Principals, Mid-level Staffers, Random Private Citizens
Anonymous comments are permitted, but I will impose a slightly higher standard on your comments than non-anonymous. Anonymity is a powerful tool, so I will enforce the rules more strictly on you as a counterbalance.
One person one account. This has always been the case but if you create a bunch of fake accounts, I can see that and I will get Substack to perma-ban you. If you try to evade this, I will probably personally email you and yell at you.
How can I donate?
Become a subscriber or click the button below
What’s the political bias of this newsletter?
While this newsletter may be critical of Evanston government and leadership, this is not a right-aligned newsletter. I posted about my personal political beliefs on this story after the 2024 election.
I strongly believe in freedom of speech and even entertaining opinions I disagree with, but I’m tired of people acting in bad faith and I won’t entertain it here.
How can you help?
Pay me money, I guess! It will go towards literal paperwork expenses like printing, scanning, pens, manilla file folders, domain names, that kind of stuff.
Is there a HOT TIP line?
Yes, well, sort of. If you want to send me a hot tip you can find me:
On signal: Add me: +13132479453
On email: Send an email to tom@foiagras.com - there are a ton of anonymous email services out there, just make one and drop an email to me.
Tips I do not want:
Anyone’s personal information, including mortgage information or deeds or stuff like that.
Tips I do want:
Things that I can FOIA that might reveal something interesting
What’s the deal with the name?
The name is a play on words!
What is your logo?
It is an AI generated picture of a duck on a Greek column, generated using OpenAI’s DALL-E tool. How cool is that?
About the Author
The author, Tom Hayden, lives in Evanston Illinois. He runs a small business in the corrosion industry and has a elementary-age child. You can email him direction at thayden@gmail.com.
Note: transparency and accountability doesn’t mean you have to agree with the political decisions made! But you should at least be aware of the trade-offs, which makes everyone more informed. Politics is inherently a game of winners and losers.
