As a result of this, I sent WMATA’s legal counsel a Public Access to Records Policy request, which is similar to a Freedom of Information Act request.

Here is the e-mail I received this morning:

Dear Mr. Soh:

This acknowledges receipt of your request for a copy of the report that shows how much was paid to WMATA’s bus drivers, Metro train operators, maintenance personnel, and any other position that is unionized for the last five years.  You requested that we include how long the employee has worked for Metro and how long the employee has held their current position including both current and previously employed individuals. This also requires that you provide additional information so we can determine whether you are eligible for a fee waiver by April 16, 2010, we will provide an estimate of the costs to retrieve the records and review them for exempt material.  Your request is being processed pursuant to the Public Access to Records Policy (PARP), which can be viewed on our website at http://www.wmata.com/about_metro/public_rr.cfm, under the section marked, ALegal Affairs.@  Generally, we aim to issue decisions on a request for records within 20 working days after the date of receipt of the request.

Although we cannot yet provide you with any documents, I can impart some general information now:

Exemptions to Disclosure

Under the PARP, certain types of records are exempted from disclosure. The exemptions include: records that could compromise WMATA’s infrastructure or security; records containing proprietary data; intra- and inter-agency advice and memoranda; records of internal deliberations; certain records compiled for law enforcement purposes; and records which if released would cause an unwarranted invasion of privacy.  WMATA’s response will not include any exempt information.

FeesOur PARP provides for the assessment of fees associated with your request if it takes more than two hours of staff time to search for, assemble and review the records that you requested. This fee shall be calculated at the employees’ basic rate of pay, plus an additional 50% to cover benefits, for the time spent responding to this request.  Also, there is a 15 cents per page copying fee beyond the first 100 pages.  Generally, a request is considered an agreement to pay all applicable fees.

We note that you requested a fee waiver because you are making this request as a private citizen and you believe the disclosure of these records is in the public’s best interest and will help citizens understand the true cost of employing the fine people who are responsible for getting them to work.  Pursuant to section 8.4 of the PARP, WMATA will furnish records without charge or at a reduced charge if:

WMATA determines that the disclosure of the information is in the public interest because it is likely to contribute significantly to public understanding of the operations of WMATA and is not primarily in the commercial interest of the Requester.

We note that your request does not sufficiently establish that you are entitled to a fee waiver under the PARP.  To better assess whether you are entitled to a fee waiver, we require further information from you.  Thus, please respond to the following questions:

1. Describe the purpose for your request of these records, and your intended use of them,
2. Explain how disclosure of these records will significantly further the public’s understanding of the operations or activities of the Authority,
3. Describe how you intend to disseminate these records to the public, and how broad an audience you anticipate the disclosure will receive,
4. If your request is on behalf of an organization, describe that organization, including its expertise in matters associated with these records and how your organization is actively involved in disseminating information to the public, and
5. Describe any commercial or profit interest that you or your organization has in these records, and how this commercial interest, if any, compares to the public interest described by your previous answers.

After considering your responses, we will inform you in writing of our decision on this portion of your request for a fee waiver.  If we do not receive your response by April 16, we will provide an estimate of the cost to process your request and request an agreement for you to pay the fees.

Sincerely,

Keysia A. Thom
[REDACTED Address & Phone Number]

And here is my response:

Ms. Thom:

Thank you so much for your reply to my PARP request.  I appreciate you taking the time to provide me the information I need to make my request.

I have noticed over the past two years that WMATA has consistently raised rates without improving service.  While WMATA has encouraged rider input, I believe there is a large part of the story that the public is not hearing, which is the wages earned by employees.

According to your FY2008 Financial report available on the WMATA web site, more than 75% if it’s expenditures went to salaries.  After some research, I found that this percentage is extraordinarily high.  In order for the public to have a better picture of why these salaries are so high, they must be provided with the information I have requested to accurately determine if those salaries are above average.

According to my research, the industry with the highest salary to expenditures ratio is the health care industry, which is 52%.  The public should be able to examine what their fares and taxes are being used to pay for.  In light of the many accidents that have plagued WMATA in the last year, I found that it only categorized 13% of it’s expenditures supplies and only 3% for preventative maintenance.

Once received, I plan on using the information to accurately determine if the employees of WMATA are paid within market standards.  I plan on releasing this information on my personal website.  After my analysis, I will provide my summary as well as the raw data on my web site.  My website is licensed under the Creative Commons Share-Alike, Non-Commercial license.  The raw data that you will provide, however, will be released into the public domain since it is available publicly.

I do not consider myself a journalist: just a concerned citizen.  I do not anticipate any sort profit from the release of these records.  I do not advertise on my site or charge a fee to read my material.

I consider these records important to the discussion of the state of WMATA fares.  If you cannot waive my fee under your guidelines, please provide me an estimate of the cost if it exceeds $100.  Please keep in mind that I will not accept any hard copies.  Please provide the information in a spreadsheet or database format.

Thank you again for your time in this matter.  I believed I have answered your questions in detail.  Please let me know if there is any more information you require.  I look forward to receiving your reply within 20 days of your receipt of this message.

Very respectfully,

Michael Soh

Although my web site is public, I did not mention my hypothesis.  If she really wants to know what I’m after, she can visit my web site (which I gave her).  My theory still stands: I believe AFL-CIO has a unfair union hold over the WMATA system and their workers are paid well over market value at the expense of safety improvements.

For realz!

Of course, Obama wants to blame this on Bush, because that’s what democrats do best: blame the other guy. The guy won’t place blame on his party, even though they are in control of the House AND Senate, as they stated when Nancy Peloski took control of the House. Of course, every Obama nut job conveniently forgets this fact and instead blames Bush for his policies, under regulation, blah blah blah.

In reality, this whole problem started before Bush took office. It started with President Jimmy Carter (a Democrat) with the Community Restoration Act of 1977. The act “encouraged” Fannie and Freddie to lend to minority communities. But it wasn’t until President Bill Clinton (another Democrat) introduced his National Homeownership Strategy that put the act into overdrive, causing billions of dollars to go to people simply because of their race and little else. Clinton saw this as a way to get minorities into the middle class. Well intentioned, but failed miserably.

While I won’t get into the details, it’s clear that the problem started long ago, not in the last eight years. To further underscore this, let’s look at Europe. After the stocks in the US started to drop, economies in other countries started to suffer as well. Germany even stated that it would pump more money into their economy because it was floundering. One of two things is happening: Europe isn’t as regulated as we thought OR deregulation is not the problem.

Bailing out failing companies for corruption is bad enough. But I find it okay that they were suffering because a law forced them to make bad loans. People keep blaming the companies for greed. I completely agree. But when the cards are stacked and there’s nothing you can do about it, you might as well use it to your advantage. President Carter provided the deck, President Clinton stacked it, and President Bush is caught dealing the cards.

My question is why doesn’t the mainstream media talk about this? I’m convinced that at this point, Obama can eat a live human baby and people will say, “Aww! How cute! He loves that baby so much that he wants to eat him. That’s so sweet!”

Only in Obama World, does 1 + 1 equal banana, the sky is meatloaf, and unicorns and leprechauns provide free healthcare for all.

I had to go to the DMV several times because I didn’t have the paperwork needed to change my address and register my car. Even though I spoke with several people at the DMV, each time they told me that I didn’t have the proper forms. I spent a total of 8 hours just trying to get new plates and registration.

Then my ID. Converting my license took about 3 hours of wait.

Why is this? Why does it take this long just to get a new license?

Obama’s plan to “revamp” the economy is to regulate Wall Street. Can someone explain to me why this is a good idea? I don’t understand how government intervention will solve a free market. In fact, government intervention on the economy is more like communism and socialism than capitalism.

Most Obama fans don’t understand the complexity of the economy. Most Obama fans think, “Give people money! Give people money! That’s the way!” By question to him is why does he insist on giving people money and then at the same time say that he wants to regulate Wall Street? The two are incompatable.

Wait…they are compatible because Obama wants to take money way from people who have actually worked and earned it to people who didn’t.

What Obama doesn’t realize is that the market will be fine without his kind of help.  Several months ago, when crude oil topped at $120 a barrel, his strategy was to regulate oil.  Of course, he doesn’t introduce legislation on it.  He just made it a campaign promise.  (Does anyone else find that odd?)

But as months went on, the market reacted by consuming less fuel, carpooling, traveling less.  This caused demand to decrease, which caused prices to fall and close yesterday to below $100 for the first time in so many months.

You don’t see Obama celebrating this.  I haven’t heard him make a speach about this yet.  Why is that?  Is it because he relizes that we was wrong?  What people like Obama fail to understand is why the market works.  It’s not a perfect system, mind you, but it works best with very little outside interference.  When people start tinkering with it, you force the market to respond in ways that are hard to predict.

Take gas for example.  Obama wanted to regulate speculators so that they wouldn’t drive up the cost of oil.  But he doesn’t compain when those same speculators also cause the price of oil to come down!  Had he regulated these speculators, oil would be haven artificially inflated beyond what it is already.  The more restrictions there are, the less freedom there is to move in the market.

Now, I’m not saying that some rules aren’t necessary.  Market works best if and when everybody plays by the rules.  And for the most part, they do.  Some rules can be bent strategically and legally.  But breaking other rules will create an advantage in the market that would be similar to the consequence of government regulation.

Governments have yet to find a way to make going to the DMV, getting a passport, gaining immigration status, or even counting votes accurately efficiant.  Until they can figure out this stuff, why should we allow them to regulate in an area where they will give themselves an unfair advantage in the market?