Supreme Court directs town to turn over documents

Hempstead argued in Supreme Court that it could create its own FOIL rules

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A State Supreme Court ruled in mid-November that the Town of Hempstead must provide copies of the financial disclosure statements filed by former Town Supervisor Kate Murray and other town officials that were requested under the Freedom of Information Law. The FOIL was filed by the Madeline Singas election campaign, which received permission to view the financial disclosure documents, but not to copy them.

“Any other municipality in New York would have simply fulfilled my request, made copies and charged a fee. In Hempstead that was not and has not been the case,” said Adam Herbsman, who petitioned for the documents. “A great deal of time and effort has went into trying to get copies, but we were stonewalled at every turn, despite the fact that the law clearly requires them to provide copies.” Herbsman filed the FOIL request in March 2015, and ultimately made an appointment with the town to view the documents, but was denied document copies.

Isaac Goldberg, a campaign manager for Singas, said, “This is a victory for government transparency, and Hempstead should promptly abandon its illegal policy that restricts disclosure of these records.”

According to the court’s decision, which was made Nov. 19, the town argued that its General Municipality Law allowed it to create its own rules regarding the disclosure of information made in a FOIL request. “The court can find no support for this argument,” wrote Supreme Court Justice Angela Iannacci. “Public Officer’s Law 87[2] is abundantly clear in its mandate that a municipal agency shall make all records available for inspection and copying.” Iannacci added that the town’s remaining contentions were equally without merit.

Herbsmann told the Herald last week that he still has not received copies of the requested documents. When asked for comment on the case, town spokewoman Susan Trenkle-Pokalsky said that the town attorney was still reviewing the decision.

When asked in an Oct. 16 interview at the Herald why candidates were having an issue receiving FOIL documents, then Town Supervisor candidate, Anthony Santino, said, “We fully comply with state law. I don’t accept the premise of the question.”

The Singas campaign requested copies because the documents acknowledged that Murray did not practice law for years.