OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL

S" I' KI' E OF ILLINOIS

November 5, 2018
Lisa Madigan
A1 1ORN KY tIENERAI.

VIA ELECTRONIC MAIL

Mr. Peter Heimlich
3630 River Hollow Run
Peachtree Corners, Georgia 30096
peter. heimlich@gmail. com

RE: Freedom of Information Act Request

2018 FOIA 055502

Dear Mr. Heimlich:

Thank you for writing to the Office of the Illinois Attorney General with your
request for information pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act ( FOIA) ( 5 ILCS 140/ 1 et
seq. ( West 2016)).

In an e- mail received on October 29, 2018, you state the following:

In a letter dated August 30, 2010, accountant Trudy Motyka of the

IL Attorney General' s Charitiable [ sic] Trust Bureau ( CTB) wrote
to Carol J. Spizzirri, President, Save A Life Foundation, 9950 W.
Lawrence, Schiller Park, IL. That letter referenced a July 8, 2010
letter Ms. Spizzirri sent to CTB office assistant Karolina Szezerba.

Please provide me with copies of the August 30, 2010 letter, the
July 8, 2010 letter, and any subsequent related correspondence.

With regard to your request for the July 8, 2010, letter and the August 30, 2010,
letter, please be advised that this office has conducted a search, and we located the responsive
July 8, 2010, letter. We located no letter dated August 30, 2010, however, we have located a
letter dated August 3, 2010, that we believe is responsive to your request. We are providing the
August 3, 2010, letter in response to your request today. With regard to the records we are
providing, your request is granted in part and denied in part. We have redacted unique identifiers
as " private information," as that term is defined in section 2( c- 5) of FOIA ( 5 ILCS 140/ 2( e- 5)
West 2016)). " Private information" is exempt from disclosure under section 7( 1)( b) of FOIA. 5
ILCS 140/ 7( 1)( b) ( West 2017 Supp.). Specifically, we have redacted signatures ( see Ill. Att'y
Gen. PAC Req. Rev. Ltr. 12046, issued June 23, 2011), a personal telephone number, a bank
account number, and a personal mailing address.

500 South Second Street, Springfield, Illinois 62706 • ( 217) 782- 1090 • ' I" 1Y: ( 877) 844- 5461 • Fax: ( 217) 782- 7046

100 West Randolph Street, Chicago, Illinois 60601 • ( 312) 814- 300( 1•' ITY: (800) 964- 3013 • Fax: ( 312) 814- 3806
University Avenue. Suite 102, Carbondale, Illinois 62901 • ( 618) 529- 6400 • YIT: (877) 675- 9339 • Fax: ( 618) 529- 6416 rs'—=
Peter Heimlich
November 5, 2018
Page 2

Some responsive records, however, are being withheld pursuant to section 7( 1)( a)
of FOIA. 5 ILCS 140/ 7( 1)( a) ( West 2017 Supp.). Section 7( 1)( a) exempts from disclosure
i] nformation specifically prohibited from disclosure by federal or State law or rules and
regulations implementing federal or State law." The Internal Revenue Code prohibits an
employee of any State" from disclosing tax " return[ s] and return information obtained by him in
any manner in connection with his service as such * * * an employee * * * except as authorized

by this title[.]" 26 U. S. C. § 6103( a) ( 2014). Return information includes " the nature, source, or
amount of [ a taxpayer' s] income[.]" 26 U. S. C. § 6103( b)( 2)( A) ( 2014). The records withheld
consist of four W -2s that contain tax return information. Your FOIA request is not covered by
one of the listed exceptions. 26 U. S. C. § 6103( a) et seq. ( 2014). Accordingly, because tax return
information is prohibited from disclosure under the Internal Revenue Code, it is likewise exempt
from disclosure under section 7( 1)( a).

You have a right to have the partial denial of your request reviewed by the Public
Access Counselor ( PAC) at the Office of the Illinois Attorney General. 5 ILCS 140/ 9.5( a) ( West
2016). You may file your request for review with the PAC by writing to:

Sarah Pratt
Public Access Counselor

Office of the Illinois Attorney General

500 South 2nd Street
Springfield, Illinois 62706
Fax: ( 217) 782- 1396

publicaccess@atg. state. il.us

If you choose to file a request for review with the PAC, you must do so within 60
calendar days of the date of this partial denial letter. 5 ILCS 140/ 9. 5( a) ( West 2016). Please note
that you must include a copy of your original FOIA request and of this partial denial letter when
filing a request for review with the PAC.

You also have the right to judicial review of your partial denial by filing suit in the
appropriate Illinois court. 5 ILCS 140/ 11 ( West 2016).

With regard to your request for any subsequent related correspondence, we have
determined that producing responsive records would be unduly burdensome under section 3( g) of
the FOIA ( 5 ILCS 140/ 3( g) ( West 2016)). This office has conducted a search, and we have
located approximately 12, 000 pages of records potentially responsive to this portion of your
request. Assuming it takes only 1 minute to review each page and make copies of any responsive
records, it would take over 200 hours to complete the necessary review. Additionally, staff
Peter Heimlich
November 5, 2018
Page 3

would then be required to review and redact information from all responsive records in order to
protect against the release of exempt information. See, e.g., 5 ILCS 140/ 7( 1)( b), ( c) ( West 2017
Supp.).

Responding to FOIA requests is a primary duty of the Office of the Illinois

Attorney General. The time required to respond to a FOIA request must be balanced against the
time necessary to meet the rest of the office' s obligations, however. In this case, the burden on
this office to review, redact, and produce responsive records would be very large due to the
volume of material involved, the complexity of identifying exempt information within the files,
and staffing limitations. See Shehadeh v. Madigan, 2013 IL App ( 4'h) 120742, 996 N. E. 2d 1243
2013). Further, the public interest involved in this case is outweighed by the burden on this
office. " A request that is overly broad and requires the public body to locate, review, redact and
arrange for inspection a vast quantity of material that is largely unnecessary to the [ requester' s]
purpose constitutes an undue burden." National Ass' n of Criminal Defense Lawyers v. Chicago
Police Dept., 399 III. App. 3d 1, 17 ( 2010), citing American Federation of Government
Employees, Local 2782 v. United States Department of Commerce, 907 F. 2d 203, 208- 09 ( D. C.
Cir. 1990).

Accordingly, we request that you narrow the scope of this portion of your request
to bring it within manageable proportions pursuant to section 3( g) of FOIA. 5 ILCS 140/ 3( g)
West 2016). A suggestion for narrowing your request includes requesting specific categories of
records related to Save A Life Foundation.

Very truly yours,

CAITLIN Q. KNUTTE
Assistant Attorney General
Senior FOIA Officer

CQK: ga

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