This is my idea of fun.

Tonight, David McCraw, assistant general counsel for the New York Times, gave a presentation on the latest and greatest in Freedom of Information strategies.

McCraw went through the highlight reel of some recent Times stories involving Freedom of Information queries that he had a hand in, including a few Pulitzers. An interesting point: McCraw stressed the human element to FOI. He likened it to the vending machine at the Times building, you can’t just expect to put something in and have something come out. Sometimes you need to shake the machine a little.

So what do we have to look forward in Obama’s new era of transparency? Well, there’s this: the Office of Government Information Services, a new entity with the tagline: Resolving Federal FOIA disputes through mediation. It’s like the Marriage Ref for reporters and bureaucrats.

McCraw isn’t just behind some of the Times biggest stories, he was part of one. David Rohde’s kidnapping and escape.  While both Bill Keller and Rohde have spoken publicly about this, it seemed appropriate to ask McCraw, who worked directly on attempts to secure Rohde’s release, the question that has been broached elsewhere: Was any money paid to anyone in an attempt to secure Rohde’s release?

“No, categorically, no,” he said.

So, for anyone still speculating on this, that would be a “any and all…including, but not limited to” denial.