Giuliani records deal still raises questions

By The Associated Press

02.28.02

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NEW YORK — A revised plan for handling former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani's records is still inconsistent with the state Freedom of Information law, the state's top open-records official said yesterday.

Robert Freeman, director of the state Committee on Open Government, said the plan, which classifies some of Giuliani's records as public and others as private, conflicts with past state court rulings.

"No document or record that had been or is now maintained by any agency of City government may in my opinion be characterized as 'private' or 'belonging to' the former mayor or any other person," Freeman wrote in the advisory opinion requested by the Associated Press.

Archivists, historians and some public officials protested a plan that handed archival responsibility for the records to the Rudolph W. Giuliani Center for Urban Affairs, a private organization run by colleagues of the ex-mayor.

The revised plan proposed making the records, which include historic documents from the World Trade Center attack, the property of the city while private archivists at the Giuliani Center process them over three years.

Any records deemed by the archivists as private, relating to city security, law enforcement or pending litigation, would be separated and marked "restricted." If requests are made for those documents, the city's top attorney, Michael Cardozo, would decide whether to grant access.

Freeman said that plan still ran afoul of state law.

Saul Cohen, president of the Giuliani Center, would not comment on Freeman's opinion. He referred comment to Cardozo, who did not return calls for comment.

Update

Despite promises, few records released from Giuliani archives
Associated Press has received little in response to months-long quest for records; organization says that raises questions about whether former mayor's files are truly available to public.  10.05.02

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NYC officials develop plan to process Giuliani papers
Agreement calls for corporation counsel office to determine which mayoral papers are official government documents, which are private records.  02.16.02