Open-record compliance in N.Y. faulted
By MICHAEL DEDORA JR., TheJournalNews.com, Albany, March 16, 2005

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ALBANY - More than 30 years after the Freedom of Information Law was passed in New York, critics say it's still too hard to get information from government agencies.
The law, passed after the Watergate scandal in 1974, requires state and local agencies to release information to the public upon request. But they often drag their feet or don't respond at all, critics say.

"The Freedom of Information law needs to be reformed," said Blair Horner of the New York Public Interest Research Group, a primarily student-financed watchdog group. "It has always been relatively weak in New York state."

"For the most part, when you file a request, you're surrendering. They're never going to give you the information," said Mark Dunlea, executive director of the Hunger Action Network of New York, an advocacy group that frequently seeks government information about hunger issues.

But a spokesman for Gov. George Pataki said the law is working well.

"State agencies approach their Freedom of Information responsibilities very diligently, and we're proud of our efforts to ensure that agencies promote an open and responsive state government," said the spokesman, Todd Alhart.

A recent NYPIRG study contradicts that claim. It reported that 30 of the 142 state agencies it requested information from, or 21 percent, didn't answer within the required time. Only 42 out of the 120 agency Web sites surveyed had posted annual reports for the 2003-04 fiscal year as of December, which the group says is an indication that the agencies aren't interested in letting the public know what they are doing.

"Governor Pataki and New York state's agencies and authorities must take steps to dramatically improve public access to governmental information," said the report's authors, Horner and Conor Bambrick.

But that study actually shows the law is working relatively well, said the administration's top open-government official.

"That means that 79 percent were complying," said Robert J. Freeman, executive director of the state Committee on Open Government. "You can go online and gather a bunch of information that may not have been available at all years ago."

The FOI Law lists information that state agencies must make available to the public. It was broadened in 1978 to require that more records be open.

Dunlea said it is past time to make it even broader.

"Does it (the Freedom of Information Law) still exist?" he asked. He said his group's requests for information often go unanswered.

"It's still impossible to get information," he said. "When we file a request, three to four weeks later, we'll get a response saying, 'We've got your letter. We're figuring out how to respond to it.' "

Freeman said he is pushing state lawmakers to fix that problem. He wants Pataki and the Legislature to require that the agencies be required to pay court fees if they don't respond within 60 days and are successfully sued for the information.

"Both state and federal courts indicate that government agencies may not be forthcoming when responding to requests, that the law has no teeth and that failures to comply carry no penalty of substance," Freeman said.

He also recommends that information may be requested via e-mail. Currently, most requests are made through mail or in person.

The changes Freeman has recommended in the past have gone nowhere.

"The Legislature is not tremendously interested in the Freedom of Information Law," he said.

Questions and answers about the state's Freedom of Information Law

Question: Who is covered by the Freedom of Information Law?

Answer: All governmental units, like state and municipal boards, authorities and most other public agencies. The courts aren't covered but have to disclose some records under other statutes.

Q: How do I get records?

A: Contact the agency and find out who the "records access officer" is. Make a request to that person with enough detail for the agency to find the records.

Q: What records are available?

A: All records, except those covered by exemptions mostly having to do with harm that could be caused by disclosure, such as the names of undercover police officers.

Q: How long do I have to wait to get the records?

A: Within five days, the agency has to say yes or no or say when it will have an answer. Denials can be appealed to the head of the agency.

Q: What is the penalty for an agency's not complying with the law?

A: No legal penalty. Court costs can be assessed in the event of a successful lawsuit. Otherwise, bad publicity is the only sanction.

Q: How much can I be charged for records?

A: A maximum of 25 cents a page, or the actual cost of reproducing documents like computer disks, tapes, etc.

Q: Do I have to say why I want to see a record?

A: No, unless you are asking for names and office addresses. If the names request is for fund raising or commercial purposes, the agency can deny the request.

Schools differ in providing public records
By DAVID MCKAY WILSON, THE JOURNAL NEWS, March 16, 2005

FOI compliance report

Reporters from The Journal News on Feb. 8 went to all 54 school districts in Putnam, Rockland and Westchester counties.

At 29 school district offices, they requested a copy of the superintendent of schools' employment contract. Here is what happened

At 25 districts, the reporters requested the athletic director's salary. To learn how they fared, go to www.thejournalnews.com/foil.

At the Edgemont school headquarters in Greenburgh, a copy of Schools Superintendent Nancy Taddiken's contract was there for the asking.

Edgemont officials didn't ask who wanted the document and didn't require a written request, nor did they charge a quarter a page for the four-page agreement.

In North Salem, meanwhile, interim business official Elizabeth Joyce insisted that a reporter sent by The Journal News could not simply write down his request, but needed to file a "formal request." The district had no request form, and Joyce, the district's records access officer, did not return several phone messages asking how that request should be made nor did she confirm that a faxed request had been received.

Joyce subsequently told a reporter she never received it.

These responses represent the range of reaction to citizen requests for the employment contracts of the superintendents of schools in 29 districts in Westchester, Putnam and Rockland counties. After four weeks, all but North Salem and Lakeland had produced the document.

However, the speed of response, and the process citizens had to engage in to obtain the documents, differed across the region.

In Edgemont, Taddiken said documents like her contract are clearly available to the public, and her staff has been instructed to produce them promptly to anyone who wants to look. The state Freedom of Information Law allows agencies to require that such a request be put in writing, gives agencies up to five days to acknowledge receipt of the request and allows them to charge 25 cents a page for copies. Edgemont waived those requirements and provided the contract in a few minutes.

"If it's something that the public is entitled to, why would I make you go through that whole procedure?" Taddiken said. "The contract is public, I work in a public school, and we are subject to Freedom of Information requirements. It's irrelevant who is asking for it."

While Edgemont was the only district to hand out the contract without a written request, five others - Pearl River, Blind Brook, Dobbs Ferry, Eastchester and Port Chester - agreed to provide the document the day it was requested.

Some districts took longer but provided the contract within the five-day deadline for acknowledging the request. They included Garrison, Ardsley, Hastings-on-Hudson, Hendrick Hudson, Irvington, Katonah-Lewisboro, Mamaroneck, Mount Pleasant, Pleasantville, Pocantico Hills, Rye, Somers and Yorktown.

Rye's response, which came in the mail within three days, was accompanied by a form letter, indicating that the district was "happy to provide access to all records available to the public in as timely a manner as possible. ... We appreciate your interest and look forward to being of assistance to you."

Several districts waited the full five days before approving the request. They were Ramapo Central, South Orangetown, Byram Hills, Elmsford, Harrison, Rye Neck and Tuckahoe.

Others took longer. Croton-Harmon waited 10 days to put its response in the mail. At Lakeland, a district that includes parts of six towns in northern Westchester and Putnam counties, a reporter called Feb. 15, a week after the request was made, asking for an update because he had yet to receive a written response.

Adele Kannenburg, who works in the district office, said the request had been approved, but she had yet to get the contract and send it out.

The contract arrived yesterday, mailed Monday after Lakeland officials read about the omission in The Journal News audit report.

"I apologize for the delay," said Lakeland records access officer William Diamato. "Our practice is to provide that material in a timely manner, and we just had office situations and workloads that prevented us from getting it out. We're going to use the opportunity to review how we handle FOILs. We receive two to three FOILs a week, and we generally get them out on time."

Another reporter found delays at the Hendrick Hudson schools in Montrose. The request for the contract was approved, but when the reporter called to set up an appointment to obtain a copy of the contract, District Clerk Rosanne Squillante said the original request did not suffice because the reporter had asked only to view the document. So when the reporter visited the district offices, she filled out a new request, asked for a copy and received one before she left.

The reporter who visited North Salem's district offices Feb. 8 was referred to Joyce, the district's interim business manager. Joyce told the reporter that he had to put the request in writing, and she would respond within five days. When the reporter asked if he could write it on a piece of paper and hand it it her, Joyce told him that was unacceptable.

"It needs to be done formally," she told him. He asked twice more whether he could write it out on a piece of paper and leave it, but both times Joyce reiterated that it would not suffice.

On each of the next three days, the reporter called Joyce and left a voice message, inquiring how he should send the letter. Joyce did not return the calls. On Feb. 11, the reporter faxed the request to Joyce at district headquarters. He has yet to receive a response.

In an interview, Joyce said she never received the fax. She said she was busy when the reporter stopped by to request the contract Feb. 8.

"He didn't have a piece of paper, and I was right in the middle of something," she said. "He wanted me to stop everything, and I was walking out the door. I had a meeting with the union president. I told him what needed to be done. He needed to write a letter. Wherever this faxed thing is, I haven't seen it."

Internet search can yield information quicker than FOI request
By BARBARA LIVINGSTON NACKMAN
THE JOURNAL NEWS, March 16, 2005

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In the age of the Internet and professionally trained research librarians, there are many ways to unearth information beyond filing a freedom of information request.

Year-end financial information on nonprofit organizations, for example, is easily found at a number of Internet sites, as are reports by legislators to ethics boards and verification of business and professional licenses.

"We are trained to find information," said reference librarian Tim Baird of the White Plains Public Library. "We steer them to a print source - and there are many - or to something online, which can be difficult for some to navigate."

Libraries, Baird said, are open weekends and evenings, extending the availability of public documents from local and state agencies. Government documents may be obtained at local government offices, but the public is restricted to regular business hours.

The White Plains library has copies of large-scale building proposals subject to public hearings, annual reports of all city agencies and historical minutes of the White Plains City Council. It is also the repository for documents of wider appeal, such as those pertaining to the Millennium Pipeline project, the Hudson River PCB cleanup, and Consolidated Edison and the Indian Point nuclear reactors. Other libraries have similar important local information.

Every day, someone needs research help, Baird said.

"Sometimes, it is a matter of speaking with a person and finding out what they are really seeking," he said. "We don't ask who they are or why they are doing the research."

Beyond freedom of information requests, which she makes often, Croton-on-Hudson resident Maria Cudequest said her favorite resource is the Internet.

"I'm now able to access certain things on the Net, and it's really a timesaver," she said. "I can narrow my search and get things any time of day or night."

An avid researcher, particularly about a controversial waste transfer station in her community, Cudequest said she can get financial reports of nonprofit organizations, find information about companies and research environmental regulations from her computer screen at home.

But, she cautioned, information from the Net must be checked for accuracy because many sites are privately run.

Computer research guru Al Tompkins said he constantly preaches the value of the Internet to journalists and anyone seeking information.

"The Internet is the world's largest, never-closed, open-24-hours-a-day library," said the former journalist, who is on the faculty of the Poynter Institute, a school for reporters and editors in St. Petersburg, Fla. "We ought not to say democracy ends at 5 p.m."

Jerry Ravnitzky, president of Concerned Residents of Carmel and Mahopac, said he often relies on help from other residents and his son, a lawyer and former investigative reporter.

"Information may be difficult to find," he said. "But there are a lot of people who are interested in honest and open government and can help you get the information you need. You just have to ask and keep asking."