[ohjesusthatguy]

Okay, you're out of your mind.

I also work for an organization where FOIA laws mean anything I produce is available to anyone who asks (and knows what to ask for). The purpose of laws like this is to prevent your elected and/or unelected officials from doing things that are detrimental to society. Those "couriers... grey area communications mechanism, or... something else that is lost to the public record"? Yeah, you're fucked if someone can figure out how to request those, because they're subject to the same laws, and it sure looks like you're trying to hide something.

Leaders cannot lead if they're working against the public interest. If they're not working against the public interest, then they can justify why they're doing what they do. Period.

[Spooky23]

That's a very one-dimensional view.

Government policymakers deal with issues that involve organized labor, various special interests, and business interests.

By making things operate in a such a way that people cannot function in a modern manner, you're pushing much of the deliberative process away from written mediums to telephone and in-person meetings. By doing this, you're empowering people who have access to power (lobbyists, etc), in the name of transparency that is almost meaningless.

[ohjesusthatguy]

First of all, the FOIA process take a long time to go from request to release of documents. And there's all sorts of fudging along the way to either not release everything requested or redact what gets released. I'm sure even you agree with that.

Second, "cannot function in a modern manner"? If you're creating a public record, it's subject to FOIA. End of discussion. The point of FOIA is that you, as a creator of public records, cannot hide your work product from the people you serve. If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear, or so I've been told.