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Hey, I don’t want to insult actual robots because, well, you never know who your next boss might be.
But, here goes.
Robots – some maybe via AI and others in the human bodies of public servants collecting six figures in taxpayer dough – are key players in the slow, but steady, decapitation and mutilation of Connecticut’s Freedom of Information law. This is starting to get me concerned.
Think of a sawyer who takes three or four weeks to cut through a small log and is too busy to abide by what the law and courts call “a primary duty.” Then, the guys says, I worked on it for an hour or two now and then but just couldn’t get to it.
That’s basically how the state police legal staff broke the law to earn an admonishment by Superior Court Judge John Cordani in a case that dragged on for three years, concluding in 2020.
These willfully-clueless miscreants are flourishing in the administration of Gov. Ned Lamont. They might tell you they didn’t know the duty to produce public records promptly is a statutory duty and command. This duty of public servants in state and local agencies is “not a second class duty,” as a judge reminded lawyers and the big bosses of the Connecticut State Police several years ago.
Of course they flourished in other administrations as well, at least after the tenure of Gov. Ella Grasso. We must remember Lamont is the first known governor in Connecticut history to have his staff ordered to attend what I’ll call FOI Detention. This happened after the governor and his staff refused to release emails, text messages and other records related to the corona virus pandemic to the Associated Press for more than two years. The pandemic was not an excuse to go full-throttle negligence for more than two years on a basic legal duty.
What did they learn attending FOI training workshops? Did the governor or lieutenant governor attend. Who attended?
I wrote the governor’s Chief Spokesperson Julia Bergman asking her those questions. I also shared the question with her colleagues Mellaney Casto and David Bednarz. Bergman told me on Monday she would get back to me.
For the record, promptly in the context of the Connecticut FOI law means “quickly and without undue delay.”
If there’s a tornado or fire or flood, a citizen might reasonably leave and come back following the crisis. Otherwise, promptly means immediately, unless the public servant can demonstrate that this would interfere with the normal course of business.
So, how is it working now with state agencies? I’m looking at several cases.
In one of the cases, a lawyer for a business executive asked the state Office of Policy and Management in a letter dated May 31 for a range of documents, some of which probably could have been produced quite promptly. These include documents listings of certain types of projects covered by various “Master Contracts” and procedures for termination of contracts.
So, not too hard, no big deal, right?
No actual documents have been produced for this request as of late July. I do not think anyone would have been injured in the line of duty by the act of at least producing some of the documents for viewing.
Who’s making these decisions? It doesn’t seem like OPM wants anyone to know.
A letter to the lawyer for the businessman dated June 18 from an unnamed person – or a robot of undetermined origin – at OPM states the agency only got the request that same day. It is signed “Very truly yours, Office of Legal Affairs.” Who’s that person? Or robot?
I called the office of OPM General Counsel Gareth Bye to ask these questions and others. Did Bye write the letter? How come no one signed it? What’s up with that? A colleague referred me to OPM Communications Director Chris Collibee. I repeated the questions and asked why no records have been produced as yet. Collibee told me on Monday he would get back to me.
Here’s how Collibee characterized the “Very truly yours” correspondence: “This is a standard form letter that is sent to all those who submit Freedom of Information requests to the agency. It was not written by a computer, but by an individual within our Legal Affairs unit. There is no requirement to sign an individual’s name to it under FOI statutes.”
That might sound reasonable to a lawyer. That’s the problem. That’s the easy way out, if the FOI Commission declines to enforce prompt production. Requestors should always consider delivering their requests by hand, then wait around to make sure there’s no fire or flood, then, ask again as needed for prompt production as required by law. In this case, such a citizen might have walked away with more than a link. Furthermore, the so-called four-day notification letter that indicates someone is alive and breathing but not necessarily doing anything is not a sufficient cover for one’s posterior if that information is readily available. Lawyers and apparatchiks abuse this stonewalling tactic and should be held accountable.
Collibee also asserted that providing a link constitutes “partial compliance” with the FOI law. This is not exactly a profile in courage or great public service for a state agency.
I hear image is very important these days. How’s that going with the Right To Know in Connecticut?
Regarding some emails being sought in this case, Collibee said his agency is working on it.
It’s been more than a month since OPM acknowledged the request. Say this case is only in the first quarter of play. OPM doesn’t have a lot of time – or maybe any time – to produce at least a few more crumbs of info. And, no, directing any person to a website doesn’t count in terms of providing public records.
Will OPM get sent to FOI Detention? Are fines in order?
State officials at the top in particular need a reminder that they do not have the legal authority to tell citizens how or in what form or to whom a public records request should be submitted. They are not the bosses of citizens. And they should stop hiding behind robots, human or hack lawyer or otherwise. The de facto delays institutionalized by burying public record requests in useless legal departments must stop. This is a grotesque and cowardly abuse of power.
If you get shafted on a public records request, write via postal mail to: Special FOI Shafted Unit, CT Examiner, 24B Lyme St., Old Lyme, CT 06371. All submissions will be read, Stay tuned for new developments on cases regarding our Right To Know in The Constitution State.
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Andy Thibault, co-author of “You Thought It Was More – New Adventures of the World’s Greatest Counterfeiter,” teaches investigative reporting at the University of New Haven. Thibault also served as a commissioner and hearing officer for the Connecticut Freedom of Information Commission and as a local member of the board of education.