NEWS FROM THE FLORIDA DEMOCRATIC PARTY
For Immediate Release: March 30, 2010
 
Florida Democrats File Records Request With South Carolina Attorney General In Effort To Hold McCollum Accountable
Expanding the Florida Democratic Party’s efforts to hold AG Bill McCollum accountable for wasting taxpayer’s hard earned dollars on his frivolous lawsuit seeking to raise taxes on 216,000 small businesses in the Sunshine State as he seeks to block President Obama’s historic health insurance reforms, Party Executive Director Scott Arceneaux filed a public records request with South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster today.
Yesterday, Arceneaux renewed his records request to Attorney General Bill McCollum because the information McCollum’s office previously provided was suspiciously lacking in documents regarding McCollum’s no-bid contact to his former lobbying partner.
Text of the Florida Democratic Party’s Public Records Request:

Tuesday, March 30, 2010
The Honorable Henry McMaster Office of Attorney General State of South Carolina P.O. Box 11549 Columbia, S.C. 29211
Dear Attorney General McMaster:
Recent statements by Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum conflict with the information provided by his office in an open records request I made of his office on March 24, 2010, in response to revelations that McCollum once again used a no-bid contract to hire one of his political friends – this time his partner from his time as a Washington lobbyist – to file a frivolous lawsuit against President Obama’s historic health insurance reform law.
Because this apparent conflict revolves around the arrangement for outside legal counsel in the health care lawsuit of which you have been cited in national news as a principal instigator, I am filing this open records request with your office in hopes of reconciling the conflicting information coming from Attorney General McCollum regarding the cost to Florida taxpayers of your lawsuit.
As you may know, by filing this lawsuit AG McCollum is basically seeking to take away health coverage for 32 million Americans, reopen the Medicare Part D ‘doughnut hole’ for 565,000 Florida seniors, and raise taxes on the 216,000 small businesses in the Sunshine State.
Pursuant to South Carolina Code, Section 30-4-30, I am requesting the following information and records generated or kept by the South Carolina Office of the Attorney General and any agency/agent controlled by the South Carolina Office of Attorney General, from between January 2009 to present, any and all communications, correspondence or documents, including but not limited to letters, memoranda, notes, work papers, invoices, tapes, charts, graphs, books, ledgers, checks, reports, drawings, notations, transcripts, minutes, reports and recordings of telephone or other conversations or of interviews, or of conferences or other meetings, affidavits, statements, summaries, opinions, studies, analyses, evaluations, contracts, agreements, email, related to the following:

• The legal firm, Baker & Hostetler, and/or any attorneys and staff working for that firm, including attorneys David Rivkin and Lee Casey. This request includes but is not limited to the process of retaining Baker & Hostetler or any of its attorneys, including deliberations, and information regarding compensation.

• Bill McCollum, The Attorney General of Florida, his agency or any agencies controlled by his agency, The Florida Office of Attorney General. This request includes but is not limited to matters related to contracts, agreements, joint litigation, compensation and matters related to legal suits including but not limited to information related to attorneys David Rivkin and Lee Casey.

This request includes copies of every document related to the matter from January 2009 to present, in digital format when possible. In the interest of the public record, I request a fee waiver, but if this is denied, please provide an estimate of the costs of meeting my request before undertaking the task. Also, an acknowledgement of receipt of this request would be appreciated.
Please contact me at 850-222-3411 if you have any problems meeting this request by 12 PM on Monday, April 19, 2010.  If you refuse to provide this information, Section 30-4-30(c) requires you to advise me in writing of such determination and the reasons therefor. If you claim an exemption to the Public Records Act, please indicate the applicable exemption. If the exemption you are claiming only applies to a portion of the records, please delete or redact that information.
Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter.
Sincerely,
 
Scott Arceneaux Executive Director Florida Democratic Party
CC: Chair Carol Fowler, South Carolina Democratic Party

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