If you don’t know about the Freedom Of Information Act, boy do you really need to learn a thing or two! Apparently these lawmakers who kicked a woman out of a public hearing for sharing publicly available information should really study up!
Lissa Lucas made her way over to West Virginia to make a statement regarding a bill that would give oil companies the right to drill on private land without reaching a 100 percent consensus among landowners. Lucas stands and uses this as a time to point out the people in favor of the bill are being paid by that very industry.
Because of this public information, Lucas decided to call out just a few of the many judiciary committee members who take donations from these companies.
The list is far longer than the time allotted to members of the public so Lucas made sure to point that out as well, “I have to keep this short because the public only gets a minute and 45 seconds while lobbyists can throw a gala at the Marriott with whiskey and wine and talk for hours to the delegates,” she said.
As she got through only a few names her mic was shut off and she was told that she could not make any personal remarks against the members, but she was just simply sharing facts. Lucas was eventually booted from the hearing.
In a later blog post detailing what happened, Lucas points out that if it is a personal attack on committee members to point out money they are taking from donors, maybe they shouldn’t be accepting it in the first place…
Read up, people! You might find more than you think!
Source: Huffington Post
