Email to General Administration, March 21, 2006

Date: Tue, 21 Mar 2006 14:57:46 -0800 (PST)
From: Ben Livingston <ben at inwa.net>
To: "Darnell, Stephanie (GA)" <SDarnel at GA.WA.GOV>
Subject: RE: Public Disclosure Request

Hey Stephanie, please mail to:

Ben Livingston
PO Box 95227
Seattle, WA 98145-2227

And just to be clear, a public disclosure request is a request for records, not information. While you may sometimes speed up a request by providing information (e.g. the number of trespass warning issued since 2004 is 52), this information came from identifiable records, and that is what a public disclosure request is for.

As per RCW 42.17, my original request of February 15, 2006 was for "copies" of these records; I reiterated my request on March 18, 2006 only because you did not seem to understand that I was, by making a public disclosure request, seeking identifiable records.

No worries, you should just be aware of this when dealing with requests that fall under RCW 42.17. Also be aware that General Administration violated the Public Disclosure Act by failing to respond to my February 24, 2006 request within five business days. I assumed you were aware of this when I received your response of March 15, 2006 indicating GA would need more time, so I let it slide. But given this misunderstanding about my request for identifiable records, not simply the number 52, I just want to be sure you are aware of this too. Violating RCW 42.17 too often will bite GA in the ass at some point.

My sincere thanks for all your help.

-- Ben