I've been reading these stories and I'm completely flabbergasted.

Here in EU when there is a public office, there's a right to access the public record. Anyone can file a request, and the office has a given time frame to respond.

Sure, they can do mental gymnastics and stall as much as they want, but there's no money involved. Ever. And if they stall too much you can go to court.

A public office is founded by tax money, by us, and the idea that I would have to pay for publicly available information (public as in not confidential) is beyond me.