Seriously You Can do anything while an ANC Commissioner. No wonder some run for it. I'm a resident that lives in Ward 8 and whose ANC Commission falls under Holly Muhammad. Long back story short, Chairwoman Muhammad ejected me from the July 13, 2021 ANC Virtual Meeting after I joined others in expressing through the chat room the way Commissioner Muhammad was keeping a fellow commissioner from gaining the access she needed to represent her single member district. As soon as I echoed the same concerns and how the back and forth was eating into time needed for constituents to share concerns Ms. Muhammad nearly immediately ejected me without warning, cause or any discussion from the meeting and I was prevented from returning.
As a result, I immediately sent in a notice to the office of the ANC and to Holly Muhammad a request to preserve the meeting video and chat as I was request that as part of a Freedom of Information Act Request. Chairwoman Muhammad then engaged in an exchange of emails of which upon the request of certain ANC related items she replied "You don't dictate to me. “I don't take instructions from the Proud Boys from Charlottesville." In another response she said, " Don't email me again.” And “Your threats of meetings and recalls don't frighten me. YOU don't frighten me. I AM NOT YOUR NEGRO! So, you better stay out of my way.” (You can catch up by visiting https://tomdonohue.pw/tomsthoughts/category/holly-muhammad) I decided to file notice of intent to recall with the board of elections. Her response not only didn't respond to my job-related matters I accused her of rather she decided to file lies and mistruths about me so that while collecting signatures my neighbors would read her response with the intent of her response having influence on whether our neighbors would support the recall. That recall currently sits with the Board of Elections while I decide the best way to move forward. See the Board of Elections will allow anything to be written in response, she could have written that I was a murderer and the BOE would permit it if it fell within 200 words. This irresponsibility on behalf of the BOE prevents registered voters from taking part in a recall election and is a disservice to our community. "While DC FOIA does indeed apply to Advisory Neighborhood Commissions, as they are public bodies of the District Government, an agency is not required to seek out responsive records that are outside of its possession or control. See United States Dep’t of Justice v. Tax Analysts, 492 U.S. 136, 144-45 (1989).1 In this instance, OANC has stated that it does not have records responsive to your DC FOIA request and has suggested that the request would be more appropriately directly to ANC 8A. Based on the foregoing, we conclude that OANC properly responded to your DC FOIA request and we hereby deny your appeal." -Mayor’s Office of Legal Counsel November 15, 2021
While all of that was processing, I was elevating my FOIA request through the system as both requests were being ignored. On August 14th I finally decided to file an appeal with the office of Legal Counsel who handles the appeals for FOIA requests. This is really a no brainer, she legally has to turn over this information that I have requested, right? Here comes the bullshit part. The office of ANC says we don't handle or process the FOIA requests for ANC's we'll support them if they are requested to do so by the ANC however they are not required to provide the information the requesting ANC is to handle those requests. So apparently that is sufficient enough for the Office of Legal Counsel. Their response was ... "While DC FOIA does indeed apply to Advisory Neighborhood Commissions, as they are public bodies of the District Government, an agency is not required to seek out responsive records that are outside of its possession or control. See United States Dept. of Justice v. Tax Analysts, 492 U.S. 136, 144-45 (1989).1 In this instance, OANC has stated that it does not have records responsive to your DC FOIA request and has suggested that the request would be more appropriately directly to ANC 8A. Based on the foregoing, we conclude that OANC properly responded to your DC FOIA request, and we hereby deny your appeal." Huh!? SO, my only recourse is to take the matter up with the Superior Court. The office of Legal Counsel wishes not to influence Ms. Muhammad the court will. It’s so incredibly sad that Ms. Muhammad refuses to comply with the FOIA request, it’s even more disgusting that the other ANC Commissioners have chosen to put up with and refuse to remove Ms. Muhammad from her Chair ship. The most recent ANC Meeting, as required I did not receive any notice of the meeting and I had to login under a fake account as I must be blocked. So how the hell am I to take part in my ANC Meetings if my ANC Commissioner blocks me? So, to Superior Court I go filing against ANC08, OANC, & Holly Muhammad. Oh, let’s not forget about this...
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