Gov. Andrew Cuomo took office four years ago promising the most transparent administration in history, but journalists and advocacy groups say his office instead tightly controls requests for public records on anything controversial and routinely delays or denies their release.
For decades, responding to requests under New York's Freedom of Information Law was the responsibility of individual state agencies. Current and former state officials say that began to change a year into Cuomo's administration, and now such requests are often routed through the governor's legal counsel.
Travis Proulx, former director of communications for the state Office for People with Developmental Disabilities, said the shift was a reaction to an embarrassing story – a 2011 New York Times series on abuse of the disabled in state care that was based largely on public records. Continue>>>
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