Albany County District Attorney Defies Freedom of Information Law
The state’s Freedom Of Information Law (FOIL) requires the government to release documents to the public upon request. Certain types of confidential documents are exempted from the statute, but generally speaking, a citizen can file a FOIL request and receive a substantial amount of information about the workings of government.
Not surprisingly, the press considers FOIL to be more important in the history of human development than the discovery of penicillin (but ranked just below abortion on demand - ohhh that was a cheap shot, wasn’t it?). What I find amusing is when the press is faced with a conflict between the beloved FOIL law and a leftist reformer politician.
This little drama is playing out in Albany before our very eyes. As you may recall, the District Attorney of Albany County is leftist reformer David Soares. According to his official website, “David has successfully helped to redefine the role of the Albany County DA as the criminal justice prosecution arm for the entire state of New York with a focus on public integrity.”
Earlier this year, he conducted an “inquiry” into the Troopergate scandal and concluded that Governor “Black Socks” “Steamroller” “Client 9″ Spitzer had done no wrong. Amusingly, after Spitzer resigned, Soares released a second report that concluded that Spitzer actually would have faced impeachment for Troopergate, and that the first report was wrong.
Nice timing, you courageous reformer!
In any event, the reporter who broke the Troopergate story filed a FOIL request with the DA’s office to get some of the documents related to DA Soares’s “inquiry;” in particular, he wanted transcripts of interviews Soares conducted with Spitzer and his top advisors. Soares refused to turn over the documents. The reporter appealed to the FOIL Request Appeals Officer, who determined that the documents should be released.
According to a story in today’s Post (a decidedly non-leftist media outlet): “The potentially explosive ruling was issued nearly two weeks ago, and Soares, in a blatant and possibly unprecedented violation of the Freedom of Information Law, has refused to make the documents available, much less say whether he will honor what is a legally binding ruling.”
Way to follow the laws you are charged to enforce, you courageous reformer!
The entertaining thing will be to see how the New York Times and other media outlets report this story (if at all). Stay tuned!
3 Responses to “Albany County District Attorney Defies Freedom of Information Law”
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So much for the D&C’s support for Project Sunshine. He’s the headline:
“Government should honor ALL FOIL requests from the media…
unless a Democrat is involved. They don’t have to follow the rules.”
@Imjp54 Uh… Did you read the article? They’re pro-FOIL, and say the same thing I do. If Soares doesn’t comply he should be held in jail under contempt charges until he does.
What article woody14619? Did the D&C have one written on this that I missed on Wednesday?