However, none of the six agencies and departments responded to the FOIA's, or provided any of the requested materials, within the five business days mandated by state law under 5 ILCS 140/3, Section 3, Subsection D.

The six entities that were FOIA'd by me on behalf of the Coalition Against the NATO/G8 War & Poverty Agenda (CANG8) were the Mayor's Office, the Chicago Police Department, the Transportation Department, the Office of Emergency Management and Communications, the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, and the publicly-funded World Business Chicago organization. All FOIA requests were sent certified mail return receipt requested on November 23rd, and most of the signed receipts have been returned by the post office.

Not one of the six Chicago agency responded to our FOIA requests, or asked for an extension of time. This is a clear violation of Illinois's FOIA law, and shows what contempt Mayor Emanuel has for transparency in government, a necessary ingredient for democracy.

In our meeting with the City last month, CPD Deputy Superintendent Debra Kirby endlessly repeated, "the City respects your 1st amendment rights," but when pressed for basic information on how those rights would be guaranteed, she and nearly ten other City officials in the meeting clammed up. When we asked if they would at least consent to a December 1st deadline for their response to our demand for protests within sight and sound of the summits, they refused to do so. In jest we proposed a May 14, 2012 deadline (the day before the summits), and with a straight face she still responded, "No."

In response to two permit applications he filed in June, in November CANG8's Joe Iosbaker received notice from MB Realty, the property manager for Daley Plaza, that no demonstrations would be permitted on the Plaza during the summits. Daley Plaza, Federal Plaza (currently torn up for reconstruction) and Grant Park are the only public venues in the downtown area that can accommodate large numbers of protesters.

With potentially no public venues open to protest organizers, the City's pro forma commitment to respecting First Amendment freedoms is completely meaningless. No one in Chicago, outside a wealthy and powerful few, asked for these G8 and NATO summits, and yet we're paying for them with tens of millions of our tax dollars.

The City's failure to follow the FOIA law is part and parcel of this contempt for the vast majority of residents. It's no wonder that Occupy Chicago has been able to tap into the resentment of the 99%, faced with a city government controlled by the 1%.