The city of Ferguson is requesting outlandish fees before handing records over to reporters investigating the shooting of Michael Brown. Now why does that sound familiar?

Courtesy of the AP:

Officials in Ferguson, Missouri, are charging nearly 10 times the cost of some of their own employees' salaries before they will agree to turn over files under public records laws about the fatal shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown. 

Missouri's attorney general on Monday, after the AP first disclosed the practice, contacted Ferguson's city attorney to ask for more information regarding fees related to document requests, the attorney general's spokeswoman said. 

The move to charge high fees discourages journalists and civil rights groups from investigating the shooting and its aftermath. And it follows dozens of records requests to Ferguson under the state's Sunshine Law, which can offer an unvarnished look into government activity. 

The city has demanded high fees to produce copies of records that, under Missouri law, it could give away free if it determined the material was in the public's interest to see. Instead, in some cases, the city has demanded high fees with little explanation or cost breakdown.

Well that is outlandish, and I think with more public scrutiny the city will be forced to change these outrageous demands or risk attracting even more negative attention. Which at this time they can ill afford.

However as I was reading that I realized that I was suddenly having a case of deja vu.

And I am not the only one, as the AP reported a little further down the page:

Other governments also have demanded spectacular fees. During the 2008 presidential campaign, for instance, news organizations asked for emails belonging to former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the former Republican vice presidential nominee. 

The Anchorage Press said officials at first wanted $6,500 in search fees, leading the newspaper to withdraw its request. Thousands of pages of those emails were ultimately provided to news organizations for about $725 in copying charges.

Oh hells yeah! Who could forget all of that hullabaloo back in the days before Palin finally threw up her hands and quit?

Remember how they quoted a price to the AP of over 15 million for the emails?

Ultimately of course the state had to cave to the pressure, but it certainly gave Palin and her minions plenty to time to redact anything that might have actually proven newsworthy.

I wonder if the city of Ferguson is taking a page from that same playbook?