The Department of the Interior's Delusions of Adequacy

A cache of documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act reveals that our government officials consider the St. Augustine 450th Commemoration Commission to be an "odd committee," with "weird" concerns expressed in a 2011 Record column by Phil McDaniel about the Commission not being funded.
The Department of the Interior provided only $30,000 in seed funding for the Commission, which met here in St. Augustine July 18, 2011.  At that public meeting, I spoke in favor of a presentation on the proposed St. Augustine National Historical Park and National Seashore. www.staugustgreen.com
There was applause from the packed auditorium at Flagler College.
Yet the 450th Commission has held no public meetings since July 18, 2011. 
Why?
It appears from FOIA documents that the Park and Seashore have not been discussed at secret meetings. 
Why?
Rather than stimulate public debate about the St. Augustine National Historical Park and National Seashore, the DoI hides St. Augustine's light under a bushel basket. 
Why?
The National Park Service refuses to fund the Commission.  DOI is not funding it, either.
Congress has not passed an appropriation. Mired in schoolyard bully-style parliamentary tactics, the House of Representatives refuses to pass appropriations, instead passing "continuing resolutions."  With no line item, NPS refuses to reprogram money for the 450th.
Despite repeated contacts by former Commissioner William Leary, a former DoI staffer, money for the 450th Commemoration Commission meetings does not exist.  The 450th Commission has a nonaganerian billionaire chair, Jay Kisklak, who loves history and nature and has donated gazillions for National Parks Foundation.  Yet no private funder has written the checks to cover meeitng costs.  Why?  Kisklak has not responded to my inquiry.
FOIA documents reveal that the notion of secrecy for the 450th commission is legally untenable.  "Operational" committees are exempt from the Federal Advisory Committee Act, which applies Sunshine principles to thousands of federal advisory committees, including some 117 at DOI.
DOI asserted the 450th Commission is an operational committee. But the 450th Commission isn't operating anything, other than a series of meetings in private offices and conference rooms, from which the public and press are excluded.  Why?
Congress intended the 450th Commission be covered by FACA, as evidenced by language exempting the Commission from Section 14(b) of FACA (duration), but not the rest of FACA.
Errant DOI employees in Washington, D.C. don't even have a point of contact for St. Augustinians to call about the 450th.  Why?
While the St. Augustine Record editorialized that the meetings should be opened, it has not yet filed a Federal Advisory Committee Act lawsuit, even though it has capable lawyers expert in Sunshine laws.  Why?
The St. Augustine National Historical Park and National Seashore was first proposed by Florida's Senators and our local Congressman in 1939. 
What are we waiting for?
Our federal St. Augustine 450th Commemoration Commission must do the People's Business.
Or go out of business as Congressman John Luigi Mica's ineffectual gesture.