City of DeKalb must release names of the applicants for the 3rd Ward Alderman

It is pretty clear—heads of government units must release the name of all applicants for appointed positions.

The Illinois Attorney General’s Office ruled that the city of DeKalb must release names of the applicants for the 3rd Ward Alderman Tuesday.
This comes after the Northern Star filed a Freedom of Information Act with the city on Jan. 13, requesting the names of the applicants for the 3rd Ward Alderman position.

Public Access Counselor Cara Smith wrote “... The City has failed to establish either that disclosure of the applicants’ names would be highly personal or objectionable to a reasonable person or that the applicants’ right to privacy outweighs any legitimate public interest in obtaining information about the people seeking appointment to this public office. City aldermen are public officials who represent the residents of their ward on the City Council... As a result, when this public office becomes vacant, citizens have a legitimate interest in knowing who has applied for the position so that they may evaluate whether the individuals are qualified to represent a particular ward and discern why one applicant was appointed over others.”

Click on the following for more details:  NorthernStar Newspaper | Article