Thanks to Secretary of the Interior for Appointing Diverse Commission -- But the Secretive First America Foundation Bears Watching for FACA Violations

April 18, 2011

Honorable Kenneth Salazar,

Secretary of the Interior
1849 C Street, N.W. via fax to 202-208-6950
Washington, D.C. 20240

RE: ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA 450TH COMMEMORATION COMMISSION – THANK YOU FOR SELECTING DIVERSE GROUP, PLEASE MONITOR COMPLIANCE UNDER THE FEDERAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE ACT (FACA)

Dear Secretary Salazar:

Thank you for appointing diverse members of the St. Augustine 450th Commemoration Commission, established by PL-111-11, §7404. On July 15, 2009, I wrote you a letter, requesting that the membership be "fairly balanced in terms of the points of view represented and the functions to be performed." 5 U.S.C. App., §§ 5(b)(2), (c), 9(c), 10(a), (b), (c). FACA implementing regulations define "balance" to mean a "cross-section of interested persons and groups with professional or personal qualifications or experience to contribute to the functions and tasks to be performed". 41 C.F.R. § 105-54.204. Thank you for rejecting the prior City Manager’s antique notion of appointing only “affluent” or “influential” members. Thank you for appointing “persons with expertise in national parks, civil rights, ethnic studies, museums, geography, ecology, history, anthropology, archaeology, sociology, tourism, business, and other relevant fields,” as I requested in the July 15, 2009 letter. Thank you for respecting FACA and our history.

I am writing today to request that you and your staff carefully monitor the Commission to assure that it is not compromised by possibly illegal involvement with the First America Foundation, Inc., a group that is violating Article I, § 24 of our Florida Constitution, which requires Open Records and Government-in-the-Sunshine. If the Commission were ever to “utilize” any of FAF’s work, it would then bring FAF under the Federal Advisory Committee Act under the “utilization test” of FACA. 5 U.S.C. App. 2 §3(2)(C). Please ask the FAF to “let the sun shine in” before the Commission’s first meeting. Please don’t allow the Commission to become embroiled into any violations of FACA or Florida’s Sunshine laws, which were adopted by 83% of the voters in Florida in the 1992 General Election (more than 3.8 million Floridians).

Please join me in calling on FAF – a recipient of $275,000 City funds in a no-bid contract – to open its secret meetings and open its secret records to the public instanter. Thank you.

With kindest regards, I am,

Sincerely yours,

Ed Slavin
P.O. Box 3084
St. Augustine, Florida 32085-3084
904-829-3877 (o)
EASlavin@aol.com
Clean Up City of St. Augustine
www.cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com

pc: Honorable Susan Sher/Honorable Michelle Obama
Honorable Bill Nelson Honorable Earl E. Devaney
Honorable Melinda Loftin, Honorable Cass Sunstein
St. Augustine Record Ponte Vedra Recorder Folio Weekly Times-Union
City of St. Augustine First America Foundation Hon. Nahum LItt
Rev. Ron Rawls, NAACP Mr. J. T. Johnson Ms. Andrea Young