East Central Reporter

Brad Halbrook, Jim Acklin and Randy Peterson, who are running for the Illinois House of Representatives in the 102nd District, stated their position on whether or not they would support a fee to access public records through the Freedom Of Information Act during a recent Meet the Candidates forum in Paris, Illinois.

“I would support it as long as it stays as a very, very small fee – just enough to cover any kind of overhead the officers would have,” Peterson said.

The fourth-generation farmer and Edgar County Republican chairman added that he does not want to take away any citizen’s right to access such information, but that a small fee could help the government offset some of the cost associated with providing the information requested.

Halbrook disagreed and said he is against the fee because it should be free for taxpayers.

“I’m opposed to that fee," he said. "That’s information that the taxpayers have already paid for. I’m advocating for more open and transparency in our government units – putting stuff online real-time."

Halbrook, who served as a state representative in the 110th District from 2012 to 2015, said the technology available today can eliminate the problems and costs government entities face in providing information to the public.

Acklin, a former superintendent and school board president, said that while he agrees that some of the information requested can easily be provided, he would support a small fee because some requests require a lot of time and effort to fulfill.

“I would say that many of the Freedom Of Information Act requests I got as a superintendent in two different school districts, much of what they were asking for was online, so that was a pretty simple process as far as directing people to that link,” Acklin said. “That being said, there are some times that the requests become repetitive and onerous, and will absolutely paralyze the operation of a small school district.”

Acklin said small school districts typically have just a superintendent and a bookkeeper attending to such requests, so it may take several days for those two people to gather information for a lengthy FOIA request.

“So I would not be against a small fee, but by the same token, I think that there does need to be transparency,” he said.

The three candidates are vying to succeed Republican State Rep. Adam Brown, who is leaving office after three terms to return to his family farm. Brown has endorsed fellow farmer Peterson.