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May 25, 2013 | 06:15 PM
mark tapscott
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Mark Tapscott

Executive Editor

Mark Tapscott is The Washington Examiner's executive editor. He oversees the daily work of the newspaper's special reporting team. He was inducted into the National Freedom of Information Act Hall of Fame in 2006. Before joining The Examiner in 2006, he started and led the Heritage Foundation's Computer-Assisted Research and Reporting (CARR) Boot Camps. He formerly held editing and reporting positions with The Journal Newspapers and The Washington Times.
  • Franklin Center to critics: Read our stuff before you diss us

    Mark Tapscott

    Updated: Sun, Mar 17, 2013

    Steven Greenhut of the Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity has a message for non-profit journalists who he claims are "breathlessly trying to portray us as right-wing-funded shills for the Republican agenda, without bothering to look at the substance of our work." Everybody...

  • Mark Tapscott: A little sunshine for Bill McKibben and the anti-Keystone crowd

    Mark Tapscott

    Updated: Thu, Mar 14, 2013

    They predicted beforehand that the Feb. 17, 2013 Forward on Climate Rally at the Washington Monument would be "the largest climate rally in history," then afterward claimed "nearly 50,000" showed up. Optimistic crowd estimates from rally organizers are nothing new in this town, so it was no...

  • Watchdog Article: SUNSHINE WEEK: Federal agencies fail advocacy group's FOIA test

    Mark Tapscott

    Updated: Wed, Mar 13, 2013

    Most federal departments failed an advocacy group's test of their compliance with the Freedom of Information Act's most basic requirements, according to a report to be released today. Cause of Action submitted FOIA requests in April 2012 to 16 federal departments seeking information on their...

  • Why do the Koch Brothers get all the sunshine?

    Mark Tapscott

    Published: Sun, Mar 10, 2013

    Here's a couple of data points that bear serious thought by transparency advocates celebrating Sunshine Week this week and by everybody else who cares about protecting and preserving a free and independent press: 1,130 - Number of results for search term "Koch Brothers" on The New York Times...

  • Sunshine Week: FOIA use grows but transparency declines despite Obama promises

    Mark Tapscott

    Updated: Sun, Mar 10, 2013

    When Washington Examiner reporter Mark Flatten submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to NASA last August, what he sought seemed clear enough. Earlier in the year, the White House Office of Management and Budget ordered all federal departments and agencies to track spending on employee...

  • Is Rand Paul America's William Wallace or Robert the Bruce?

    Mark Tapscott

    Updated: Fri, Mar 8, 2013

    If the question posed in the headline seems an odd one, recall the scene in "Braveheart" when the young Bruce first excitedly talks to his father about how the rebel William Wallace inspires his countrymen to stand up and fight for their liberty. Bruce's father patiently listens, then responds...

  • Mark Tapscott: One dinner does not a Great Divider unmake

    Mark Tapscott

    Published: Thu, Mar 7, 2013

    Tennessee's Sen. Bob Corker -- one of a dozen Republicans invited to break bread with President Obama this week -- emerged from the dinner Wednesday evening describing the atmosphere and discussion as "sincere and open." That shouldn't be newsworthy, but these aren't normal times. To hear...

  • FOIA finds two NLRB lawyers making way over $100k, but not for doing government work

    Mark Tapscott

    Published: Wed, Feb 27, 2013

    Interesting facts are often found when journalists, activists and individual citizens file Freedom of Information Act requests seeking information somebody in the federal government might not want the public to know. Take the National Labor Relations Board. The NLRB has been ground zero for...

  • Mark Tapscott: Obama's Organizing for Action is pay to play, writ large

    Mark Tapscott

    Published: Thu, Feb 28, 2013

    For just $500,000 a year, you can buy four audiences per year with President Obama, courtesy of Jim Messina and his helpful buddies at Organizing for Action. Don't worry about whether it's illegal. Jim and the gang have lots of like-minded friends at the Justice Department and elsewhere in the...