ATLANTA --- If any Georgians wanted to know whether their governor had been taking trips on the sly to Latin America, they'd better have a fat checkbook to browse the official schedule.

That's because Gov. Sonny Perdue's staff would have to black out, or as lawyers say redact, any information that is exempt from the state's Open Records Act, all done at an hourly rate often determined by an attorney.

Exemptions include medical information, Social Security numbers and information about ongoing criminal investigations. Not exempt are items such as the names of industrial prospects and potential appointees.

Blocking the exempt information would cost thousands of dollars -- a cost passed on to the information seeker. And challenging the redactions in court could cost $5,000 to $10,000, depending on appeals, media attorneys say.

The governor's schedule just isn't set up to be perused by the public or the media, said Mr. Perdue's communications director, Bert Brantley.

"The calendar is set up for the governor's use and to give him information at his fingertips," Mr. Brantley said. "I guess we could do a separate schedule that would be query-friendly, but that would be more staff time and could give the appearance we were doing one just for show."

Mr. Perdue's staff has provided printouts to reporters who have requested his appointments on specific dates, Mr. Brantley said. And it did conduct a search for the names of cities supplied by Morris News Service that resulted in a tally of the number of trips to each city.

In both cases, access to the information was limited to the request.

Morris News Service and The Augusta Chronicle were already researching how often Mr. Perdue visited Augusta and other Georgia cities late last month when questions arose about the whereabouts of South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, who admitted having an affair with a woman in Argentina.

He didn't begin disclosing his schedule until after the affair became public, according to Bill Rogers, the executive director of the South Carolina Press Association.

Mr. Perdue's predecessors Zell Miller and Roy Barnes released a schedule each Friday for the coming week that included all appointments, including those not open to the public. The current administration releases only a "public schedule" a day ahead of events such as ribbon cuttings and civic club speeches.

"We do it based on what we think the news media would want to cover," Mr. Brantley said.

Mr. Perdue's staff doesn't make public when the governor is scheduled to attend a public meeting of a state agency board or commission. Mr. Brantley said reporters only covered such meetings to ask questions about unrelated topics.

Seeing the governor's schedule for a week, month or multiple years is a legitimate request, according to David Hudson, an Augusta attorney who represents the Georgia Press Association and The Chronicle . It's up to the governor and his staff how the calendar is set up, but the law doesn't require that requests be limited to specific dates.

"That having been said, as a matter of good policy, the schedule of the state governor is an important tool in understanding his performance," Mr. Hudson said. "Facilitating its availability to the public would serve the interests of open government and a more informed citizenry."

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