Massachusetts transparency headlines
From Sunshine Review
This article is a list of transparency related news from Massachusetts.
Patrick targets ethics lapses
January 7, 2009: Governor Deval Patrick yesterday proposed a sweeping overhaul of the state's ethics and lobbying laws that would give an array of state authorities unprecedented powers to tap phones, subpoena records, and punish corrupt officials.
Following the recommendations of a 12-member panel formed after a series of scandals roiled the State House, Patrick proposed giving subpoena power to the secretary of state's office and wiretapping authority to the state attorney general. And he would make it easier for the attorney general to win public corruption convictions. Read the full article here.
Taxpayers fund school officials' meals, lodging at conference
January 4, 2009: Public officials keep saying money will be tight this year and budget cuts are looming.
But that didn't stop school department employees and school committee members from Haverhill, Methuen, Andover and North Andover — and across the state — from attending a conference on Cape Cod in November where many slept in hotel rooms and dined on the taxpayers' dime. Read the full article here.
Yoon says city records should be an open book
January 4, 2009: In the wake of bribery indictments against state Senator Diane Wilkerson and City Councilor Chuck Turner, Councilor at Large Sam Yoon says the city can no longer do business as usual or allow the public perception to linger that deals are brokered over restaurant lunches or in clandestine meetings away from the public eye.
Last month, Yoon introduced a resolution before the council urging Boston to post important details about the activities and composition of various committees, boards, and commissions on the city's website.
The measure, which is not binding, passed unanimously on Dec. 17. Read the full article here.
State upholds records denial by Dennis-Yarmouth School District
December 31, 2008: The state supervisor of records has upheld a denial by the Dennis-Yarmouth Regional School District for records sought by Cape Cod Today.
Cape Cod Today had sought disciplinary records pertaining to two incidents at the school district earlier this year: one in which students at Nathaniel S. Wixon Middle School filled another student's water bottle with toilet water, and another in which three teachers at Mattacheese Middle School did not evacuate students in their charge during a fire.
On Oct. 22, school district superintendent Carol Woodbury issued letters denying the two records requests. Read the full article here.
Closed session on Rojas records blocked
December 24, 2008: A closed-door meeting last night between city councilors and City Manager Michael V. O’Brien, to discuss the Telegram & Gazette’s legal efforts to force the Police Department to release details about misconduct investigations involving Officer Mark A. Rojas, was scuttled after District 4 Councilor Barbara G. Haller used a procedural measure to temporarily block her colleagues from meeting in executive session.
Lawyers for the newspaper are scheduled to go to court Jan. 15 to ask Superior Court Judge C. Jeffrey Kinder to order the release of four case files involving Officer Rojas and to list specific exemptions to the state public records law for any redactions made by police officials. Read the full article here.
T&G goes to court in records case
December 18, 2008: The Telegram & Gazette went to court yesterday in an effort to force the Police Department to release details of four misconduct investigations involving Officer Mark A. Rojas.
The Police Department masked all 764 pages of four internal affairs cases in black ink before turning them over to the T&G last week.
The hundreds of completely blacked-out — redacted — pages make it impossible to determine what Officer Rojas was accused of, how the complaints were investigated and whether the officer was found culpable of any wrongdoing in those four cases. Read the full article here.
Trust redacted
December 11, 2008: Whatever satisfaction Worcester police officials may have taken in thumbing their noses at the state Public Records Law, the release of voluminous files with most of the relevant public information blacked out ill-serves the public and the department.
The Public Records Law, buttressed by the courts, mandates that case files of investigations into complaints from the public be made available to the public. The law requires the records be handed over without delay.
The logic is clear: The public has a vital interest in knowing whether allegations of misconduct are taken seriously and investigated thoroughly. The public needs to be informed in a timely manner that appropriate disciplinary action is taken if the allegations prove to be true. Read the full column here.
Police records redacted into big black hole
December 11, 2008: I’m trying to look on the bright side of this newspaper’s interminable battle with the Worcester Police Department over a request we made in April to release the internal records of a cop who’s been the target of citizen complaints.
Tuesday, after months of haggling, Police Chief Gary Gemme finally turned over the records. All 1,508 pages of them. But we’ll have to take him at his word that these records belong to Officer Mark Rojas, because the redactors went a little nuts with the magic marker. Frankly, I haven’t seen so much black space since the Discovery launched into orbit.
Of the 10 cases that were handed over, four were completely redacted. Every page, name, date, location, preposition and apostrophe. They even blacked out the WPD letterhead, leaving us to wonder exactly what privacy concerns were being protected. I mean, most of us are aware that the WPD exists, right? Read the full column here.
DA urges board to release records
December 9, 2008: The office of Worcester District Attorney Joseph D. Early Jr. has sent the Board of Selectmen a second letter urging the board to comply with the Open Meeting Law.
The message: Litigation comes at a cost, and the burden of proof lies with the town. The letter from the district attorney’s office results from a recent decision by selectmen not to release the evaluation of Town Administrator Robin L. Craver to the public.
The controversy grew out of a Telegram & Gazette complaint filed Aug. 18 with the district attorney’s office, which is charged with enforcing compliance with the state’s Open Meeting Law. The complaint alleged that selectmen violated the law when they evaluated Mrs. Craver in 2007 and 2008. The district attorney’s office ruled the evaluation process violated the Open Meeting Law by failing to conduct Mrs. Craver’s performance evaluations in public. Read the full article here.
T&G to receive officer’s records
December 8, 2008: The internal affairs records of Police Officer Mark A. Rojas will be turned over to the Telegram & Gazette by tomorrow, City Manager Michael V. O’Brien said yesterday.
Last week, Police Chief Gary J. Gemme said the records were not going to be released on Wednesday — the day he said they were going to be turned over — because a lawyer for the patrolmen’s union asked to review the 1,508-page file.
The chief agreed to postpone the release until at least Thursday, but Mr. O’Brien said yesterday the records will be available tomorrow. Read the full article here.
Union’s request holds up release of officer’s records
December 5, 2008: Police Chief Gary J. Gemme yesterday backpedaled on his publicly announced plan to turn over Officer Mark A. Rojas’ internal affairs file this week.
Chief Gemme said he fully intended to release the records to the Telegram & Gazette Wednesday — until a lawyer for the patrolman’s union contacted him with an eleventh-hour request to review the 1,508-page file before it was given to the newspaper.
“It was unexpected,” he said. Read the full article here.
Controversies bring push for more ethics laws
November 28, 2008: As Massachusetts deals with its biggest corruption scandals and ethics controversies in decades, everyone from the governor to rank-and-file lawmakers is trying to respond to the public's growing distrust by offering a slew of proposals to tighten ethics laws.
Under one proposal, lawmakers would have to undergo ethics training every two years, like college freshmen being repeatedly reminded not to cheat on exams.
Under another plan, legislators would be subject to term limits, and earmarks - the grease that helps the budget get passed every year - would disappear. Read the full article here.
Councilor fined $8,000 for faking Governor's signature
Mass. state senator indicted, resigns seat
Gov. creates ethics reform task force
House speaker cites "legislative immunity" to keep papers secret
Obey the law. Timely release of police files is not optional
November 12, 2008: Nearly nine months after the Telegram & Gazette requested records regarding citizen complaints against a Worcester police officer, and almost three months after the department accepted payment for the copying, delay that might have been excusable now appears, in fact, to be willful noncompliance with the law. Read the full article here.
‘E-mail messages are public records’
November 10, 2008: Alan N. Cote, supervisor of records for state Secretary William Galvin’s Public Records Division, has advised the Saugus Library Board of Trustees that e-mail messages are public records by statue and cannot be deleted without permission from his office and in accordance with the applicable municipal retention schedule.
“Failure to do so may be a violation of state law and applicable regulations,” said Cote in a Sept. 26, 2008 letter to the Pam Gill of the Library Board of Trustees. Read the full article here.
Police delay goes against purported goal
November 9, 2008: Imagine getting pulled over by a police officer who points out that your inspection sticker has expired and you’re violating the law.
In return, you explain that you’re busy at work and having problems at home. You’ll get to it when you can, you tell the cop. It would be irresponsible to comply with the law when you have other matters to deal with.
In essence, that’s the Worcester Police Department’s justification for failing to obey the public records law and turn over internal affairs records of a single officer requested in April by the Telegram & Gazette. State law requires custodians of public records to release them within 10 days. Read the full column here.
WPD’s documents delay ‘outrageous’
November 9, 2008: More than two months after the Worcester Police Department pocketed $1,500 as payment for copies of citizen complaints against one of its officers, the department has yet to deliver the documents.
In fact, Police Chief Gary J. Gemme told the Telegram & Gazette last week, the department has yet to begin reviewing and copying the officer’s internal affairs documents and likely won’t do so until sometime next month.
State law calls for public records to be provided within 10 days. Read the full article here.
Massachusetts state senator arrested for accepting bribes
Records about chief still sought
October 28, 2008: Three citizens who have complained about the conduct of Police Chief Scott J. Freitas asked selectmen last night what has happened to public records requests they made in connection with their complaints.
Mr. Chauvin, of Northbridge, told selectmen last night that he filed a public records request with the Police Department on Sept. 17, and has received a notice requesting more time, but no records. The state law says that the town has 10 days to respond to a request for public records.
He also asked if the board believed that Chief Freitas had a conflict-of-interest in fulfilling the public records request, since he is the person about whom Mr. Chauvin is complaining. Mr. Chauvin has charged that Chief Freitas improperly complained to state police about his private detective’s license, which led to it being revoked. Read the full article here.
The state's Public Records Law is flouted by officials at all levels of government
October 23, 2008: A law designed to shine a bright light on the inner workings of state and local government in Massachusetts is instead leaving much of the bureaucracy in shadows, if not total darkness.
A seven-month investigation by CommonWealth revealed that public officials at all levels of government frequently game the Massachusetts Public Records Law. Read the full article here.
Daily News to appeal Open Meeting Law decision
October 22, 2008: Writing on behalf of selectmen, Town Attorney Ray Miyares has denied a second public records request pertaining to former Town Manager Anthony Troiano's resignation.
The Daily News had requested a printout of all Internet sites visited at work by Troiano during his final two months. Town officials speaking on condition of anonymity have said Troiano's departure was linked to improper use of the town's Web server. Read the full article here.
Public records should be public
October 22, 2008: Public records should be public, but all too often that's not the case here in Massachusetts.
The Massachusetts Public Records Law - the state's counterpart to the federal Freedom of Information Act - looks tough on paper, but is actually weak in practice. Read the full editorial here.
Lawrence School Committee member gagged
October 20, 2008: As part of a new policy that appears to violate the state's Public Records Law, Superintendent Wilfredo Laboy said he will no longer answer written requests for information from School Committee member James Vittorioso.
School administrators will also stop giving Vittorioso reports or copies of information that was previously provided or not related to issues on the committee's agenda,
"We have spent considerable time completing reports or writing up responses to questions that could have been addressed through a phone conversation or a brief meeting with me," Laboy wrote Vittorioso in an Oct. 3 memo titled "weekly requests for information." Read the full article here.
Town forced to release Williams’ settlement after state rules in favor of I&M’s FOI request
September 26, 2008: The town was forced to release a confidential settlement Monday it reached with former Zoning Board of Appeals administrator Linda Williams after she was fired from her job last year, an agreement which netted Williams a $37,000 severance package. Read the full article here.
Williams gets $37,000 settlement agreement
September 24, 2008: The Town of Nantucket paid former Zoning Board of Appeals administrator Linda Williams $10,000 as part of a severance package and allowed her to resign from her position, rather than being fired, according to records obtained through a Freedom of Information request. Read the full article here.
Secretive parole votes raise furor
September 20, 2008: Highly paid Massachusetts Parole Board members are hiding how they vote on springing potentially dangerous cons, leaving families of crime victims outraged - even as most other states make that information public, a Herald review has found.
The secret process shields the five powerful members from political fallout after controversial decisions and leaves them unaccountable to victims, taxpayers and even the state officials who appoint them. Read the full article here.
Selectmen violate Open Meeting Law
August 21, 2008: The District Attorney’s Office cited the Wareham Board of Selectmen for violating the state’s Open Meeting Law by failing to release minutes from executive sessions relating to the Swifts Beach eminent domain land taking. Selectmen had until this past Monday to release the minutes. Read the full article here.
Bonuses boost council staff pay
August 19, 2008: The City Council has been awarding large bonuses to members of its staff, quietly boosting the pay of some political appointees to levels that are well beyond the salary ranges authorized for those positions in city statutes, according to a Globe review of public records. Read the full article here.
State OKs charge for e-mail record request
August 19, 2008: The state's public records supervisor has ruled that the town can charge the Daily News roughly $600 for a month's worth of e-mails requested from Town Administrator Anthony Troiano.
After Troiano originally provided a quote of $2,104 for copies of e-mails he sent and received between Feb. 1 and March 4, the Daily News filed an appeal with Supervisor of Records Alan Cote in Secretary of State William Galvin's office. The town agreed to lower its expense estimate after officials spoke with a staff attorney in Cote's Public Records Division. Read the full article here.
Public records not really public, reporters find
August 14, 2008: For more than a year now, the Journal and the city have butted heads about ethics and the definition of public records and public information.
Last year, a reporter for the Somerville Journal asked that the Statements of Financial Interest filed by candidates running for office in 2007 to be released. When the reporter received the copies, the majority of information had been blacked out — the name of the wife of the mayor, for example, had been blacked out, even though the Journal has run her name and photo on a number of occasions. Read the full article here.
Paper seeks garage information
August 13, 2008: The Citizen has submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to the MBTA to release the details of plans submitted for a parking garage near Beverly Depot.
T spokesman Joe Pesaturo said the proposals are not public and are protected by exemptions in the public records laws for deliberative process and real estate transactions. Read the full article here.
Turnpike takes its meetings on the road
August 10, 2008: The first time I attended a Massachusetts Turnpike Authority board meeting, I was amazed by the presence of television klieg lights, radio sound equipment, and real-time updates sent to the news wires.
Yet the high interest is warranted. The Turnpike Authority board controls a complex $15 billion tunnel system and the state's main east-west roadway - both crucial to the Massachusetts economy. It also sets toll rates, which might as well be taxes for drivers who have to travel the route every day for work. Read the full article here.
Police are sued by ACLU. Group seeks records of arrests in schools August 7, 2008: The American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts has filed a lawsuit against the Worcester Police Department, claiming city police are on the wrong side of the law when it comes to a public records request.
The Boston-based civil rights group claims the Police Department is violating the state Public Records Law by refusing to turn over data about arrests in city schools — information it says other large police departments in the state have provided without any problems. Read the full article here.
Mayor seeks records on firefighters' physicians
July 22, 2008: Mayor Thomas M. Menino ordered the Boston Fire Department yesterday to dig through its records in a hunt for doctors who have diagnosed large numbers of city firefighters with work-related injuries, increasing scrutiny on the role physicians play in awarding questionable disability pensions.
The mayor's office said Menino is seeking to unearth suspicious patterns in which some physicians may have "disproportionately diagnosed disabilities." Read the full article here.
Police public files costly
July 20, 2008: A series of state court rulings in a case that originated in the city firmly established that police internal affairs files are public records in Massachusetts.
The state Appeals Court noted in a key ruling nearly five years ago that public access to police internal affairs documents “promotes the core value of trust between citizens and police.”
Case closed.
Or so it seemed at the time. Read the full article here.
Public has right to know who Brockton employees are calling
July 17, 2008: When they are talking business on city lines, the cell phone records of city employees are public.
That ruling comes from state Supervisor of Public Records Alan N. Cote in response to an appeal filed by The Enterprise after City Solicitor James J. D’Ambrose said the public does not need to know to whom city employees are talking.
In a July 11 letter, Cote ordered D’Ambrose to release copies of the bills, omitting only telephone numbers related to personal calls.
“However, the telephone numbers of calls made or received by the city employees which pertain to their public business are a matter of public record,” Cote wrote. Read the full article here.
Court blasts City Council secrecy
June 27, 2008: A state appeals court has heaped more criticism onto a string of secret Boston City Council meetings—one of them attended by local City Councilor John Tobin—that drew an $11,000 fine in 2006.
The court confirmed that a 2005 meeting Tobin attended violated the state’s Open Meeting Law. The appeals court vacated the lower court’s decision on 10 other meetings held in 2003-2005, saying the city should be allowed to present more evidence that those meetings were legal. But the appeals court also issued withering criticism of the council’s main defense arguments, making it appear unlikely that the final decision will be different. Read the full story here.
