About Public the records

Public information should be publicly accessible.

No one should have to take a seminar to understand how to successfully submit a public request. No one should have to rely on the force of the organization backing them to successfully obtain public information.

Those are the basic principles behind Public the Records.

Our goals:

  • Pull the curtain back on successfully filing public records requests

  • Spread awareness of the weaknesses in public records laws

  • Tell the stories of individuals who face challenges obtaining public information

  • Be a resource to individuals who don’t know where to begin obtaining public information

  • Help individuals successfully file public records requests

About Katherine Revello

Katherine Revello is an accountability journalist with over a decade’s experience covering state government across New England and creator of Public the Records.

Her passion for public records began when she was working as a journalist in Maine during the COVID-19 pandemic. Because Maine’s Freedom of Access Act (FOAA) does not require public agencies to respond to public records requests within a certain period of time, she faced numerous challenges compelling hostile officials to turn over records. In many cases, state agency officials simply didn’t bother to respond to questions about how requests were being processed.

Now working mainly in Connecticut, Katherine sees many of the same problems repeated in how agencies respond to the state’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

Over the course of her journalism career, Katherine has not only written about her own challenges with public records laws, but has covered numerous stories involving members of the public who have been stonewalled by public officials when trying to obtain public information. She routinely assists members of the public in writing and filing requests and tries to educate the public about how to more effectively obtain public records.