It has been years before anyone seriously in the Administration has claimed that it is “the most transparent Administration” ever — as President Barack Obama once pledged. The Obama Administration instead has set new lows for its pursuit and prosecution of whistleblowers and reporters as well as classifying and withholding information on potentially embarrassing actions or programs. For that reason, there was not much surprise that the White House chose this week — with the National Freedom of Information Day and the Sunshine Week — to remove a federal regulation that subjects its Office of Administration to the Freedom of Information Act.

In fairness to the Administration, both President Bush and Obama have rejected requests for information from the office and they have some case support to refusing to share information with the public. However, particularly with the growing controversy over Hillary Clinton unilaterally using her personal server for emails and instructing subordinates to delete tens of thousands of “personal” emails, the timing and symbolism could not be worse.

The liberal Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) denounced President Obama’s broken promises on transparency as well as the specific move to remove the office from information access under the law. Of course, while it may not be required, the Administration could voluntarily make its self accountable to the public. That is, if it wanted to be the most transparent Administration ever.

Source: USA Today