Giuliani's mayoral records given to private group

By The Associated Press

01.24.02

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NEW YORK — Records from Rudolph Giuliani's eight years as mayor were "hijacked by the mayor in a secret agreement," the Village Voice reported this week on its Web site.

The 12-page agreement was signed Dec. 24 by George Rios, the records commissioner, and lawyer Saul Cohen, a longtime friend of Giuliani's and president of the Rudolph W. Giuliani Center for Urban Affairs Inc. — the institute that now controls the records.

Giuliani's spokeswoman, Sunny Mindel, had no immediate comment.

The Voice said it obtained a copy of the agreement under the freedom-of-information laws after the Daily News reported the records transfer earlier this month.

The agreement acknowledges that "the documents are the property of the city" and that "under the City Charter," the Department of Records "is ultimately responsible for the preservation and organization" of these materials.

But the Voice reported that the deal gives the records to a Giuliani entity so new it has no board, no director, no site, and no identifiable archivist.

Idilio Gracia-Pena, who served as records commissioner from 1990 to 1994, said he found the Giuliani actions "disturbing" and inconsistent with the city charter.

Ann Phillips, the head of the New York Archival Society, said her organization would petition Mayor Michael Bloomberg to reconsider the deal and suggested possibly taking legal action.

"Who's to say (Giuliani) won't censor the papers, that he won't destroy some of them?" she asked.

The contract provides "prior written approval" by the city before any documents are destroyed, but Phillips and Gracia-Pena said they were concerned that without any on-site city supervision, shredding "is a possibility."

The records include Giuliani's appointment books, cabinet meeting audiotapes, e-mails, telephone logs, advance and briefing memos, correspondence, transition materials, and private schedules, as well as his departmental, travel, event, subject, and Gracie Mansion files.

Also part of the records are those of his chief of staff and every deputy mayor, together with their chiefs of staff. They are being kept in a Queens warehouse that charges $3,430 a month, the Voice reported.

The deal also allows Giuliani to screen the documents and gives him veto power over what to make public. "Whenever Rudolph W. Giuliani has a personal interest or right in a document separate and apart from the interests and rights of the city," the contract says, "his approval shall be required before any such document may be released or disclosed to the public."

Robert Freeman, the director of the state's Committee on Open Government, cited court decisions that counter the terms of the Giuliani deal, including a unanimous Court of Appeals ruling that reversed a decision protecting the so-called "personal" papers of former Albany Mayor Erastus Corning.

"Rudy Giuliani's feelings about what's public don't matter," said Freeman. "The law — not a private party — determines what's public. An individual has no legal standing in terms of requiring or prohibiting disclosure."

Freeman added he "does not know of any precedent" for the Giuliani contract in state history.

Update

N.Y. FOI official questions Giuliani's records deal
Committee on Open Government director says agreement giving former New York City mayor's documents to private group is 'inconsistent' with state law.  02.14.02

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