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.
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Read More… from Cuomo’s office tightly controls public records
With the gridlock in Washington, and the latest scandal involving Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s alleged meddling in the work of the commission he created to help root out corruption in Albany, it’s too easy to think that “government” — and government shenanigans — are something far away, either up the Hudson or down I-95.
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Read More… from Do you know New York state’s Open Meetings Law?
WIVB News 4 Investigates wants to know how the New York State Thruway Authority is spending some of its toll money. Last December News 4 filed a New York Freedom of Information Law request asking to see the last three years of expenses for the agency’s top executives and the authority’s board of directors.
However, even nearly seven months later, the Thruway Authority has refused to release records that News 4 believes should be public. The records are related to the expenses of the board and executives who run the authority.
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Read More… from Thruway Authority (N.Y.) refusing to release records
Sorry, political junkies: Your chance to tune in to state Assembly committee meetings online died at the end of the legislative session last week.
Yes, that may sound slightly less fun than watching paint dry. But for those interested, a proposal to require webcasts of legislative committee meetings could have offered a new window on how state lawmakers decide which proposals make it to the floor and which never see the light of day. The state Senate already offers such video, but the Assembly does not.
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Read More… from A more open New York government? Maybe next session
Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has championed greater transparency for government and groups in his cross-hairs during his three-plus years as the state's top law enforcement official. But when it comes to his own dealings with a powerful political consultant and close adviser, Mr. Schneiderman is shielding them from public view—under legal reasoning some leading experts say is clearly wrong.
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New York's highest court Tuesday ordered that the names of retired teachers, police officers and other government workers be released publicly in a case that tested the power of the state Freedom of Information Law.
In the unanimous decisions, the Court of Appeals decided it was not an invasion of privacy to identify retirees benefitting from the state's various pension systems for public workers. The court, however, said the addresses of the individuals shouldn't be made public.
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Read More… from Court backs disclosure of public retiree names
