Despite promises, few records released from Giuliani archives

By The Associated Press

10.05.02

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NEW YORK — Shortly after Mayor Michael Bloomberg took office in January, he pledged to make accessible thousands of pages of historically important documents that were quietly removed from City Hall by the Giuliani administration.

But the Bloomberg administration has released little in response to a months-long effort by the Associated Press to gain access to portions of the Giuliani archives, raising questions about whether the records are truly available to the public.

The AP requested copies of all records related to Giuliani's establishment of the Twin Towers Fund, a multimillion-dollar charity for the families of Sept. 11 victims, and all documents detailing the administration's response to the anthrax scare that terrified the city last fall.

The AP's requests, first made six months ago under the state's Freedom of Information Law, have led to the release of just 13 pages related to the Twin Towers Fund, and a single press release regarding the city's handling of the anthrax scare.

Corporation Counsel Michael Cardozo, the city's top lawyer, said the Bloomberg administration complied lawfully with the AP's request, and repeated assurances that the public would be given speedy access to records.

"I believe that the public is receiving the same access to the Giuliani records it would have had had the contract with the Giuliani Center not been entered into," Cardozo said.

But by contrast, the state Attorney General's office released more than 300 pages of Twin Towers documents generated by the city and filed with the state agency. Those documents were made available by the attorney general within a single business day in response to the AP's request.

"The problem was absolutely predictable and now it's all coming true," said Robert Freeman, director of the state Committee on Open Government, the agency that oversees state laws governing access to public records.

Mayoral records from the Giuliani administration, the vast majority of which are presumed to be public documents, are no longer in the city's possession.

Seven days before Giuliani's term expired, the city agreed to hand over all of the mayor's records to the Rudolph W. Giuliani Center for Urban Affairs, a private organization run by colleagues of the ex-mayor.

The agreement, unprecedented in New York City, drew protests from archivists, historians and some public officials who feared that the public would lose access.

"I thought it was wrong to keep the documents, and I still think a great error was made," said former Mayor Ed Koch. "A lawsuit should be brought to restore them to the municipal archives."

Bloomberg, who has spoken often about the need for "transparency" in government, had assured the public it would have access to the Giuliani records as long as the documents were not personal in nature.

"I think that anything that makes it more difficult to get information is unfortunate," Bloomberg said when questions first arose in March.

The contract states that the city, not the Giuliani Center, will decide what documents should be turned over to the public. "Such determinations shall in each case be made by the Office of the Corporation Counsel," it states.

The agreement, which covers records from all eight years of the former mayor's tenure, was publicly disclosed only after Giuliani left office and the documents had been relocated to a Queens warehouse to be copied and archived. The originals are eventually to be returned to the city.

Typically, the records of a former mayor are kept in municipal archives and access is controlled directly by the city government.

Giuliani declined to be interviewed for this article, but earlier said, "the whole purpose of this was to bring in a professional archivist. The whole purpose here was to try to make them more accessible rather than less."

Bloomberg administration officials deny they have had a problem obtaining documents from the Giuliani Center.

But Steven Goulden, a senior attorney in the city's Law Department, acknowledged that the Bloomberg administration does not know precisely what is in the Giuliani archive — and does not know whether it receives all the documents it requests.

"Nobody knows to the last piece of paper what's there," said Goulden. "Maybe in three years, or however long it takes to organize the material, you would get a different result."

Among other things, the anthrax threat led to the brief closure of City Hall last fall after the discovery of an anthrax-contaminated package. Yet not a single document was provided to explain those circumstances.

When told that the AP had received just one press release from the archive after making its anthrax request Cardozo was circumspect.

"I can tell you that to the best of my knowledge relating to the request, that there are no other records in the archive," Cardozo said.

The administrator of the Giuliani Center, Saul Cohen, said the center's archivists turn over whatever documents are requested through the Freedom of Information Law.

In response to the AP's request for records of the Twin Towers Fund, which was created by the former mayor, the Bloomberg administration chose not to ask the Giuliani Center to search its archives. The AP sought "all records regarding the establishment and maintenance of the Twin Towers Fund during the administration of Mayor Rudolph Giuliani."

Goulden, who is charged with retrieving the Giuliani documents on behalf of Bloomberg, said the Freedom of Information Law does not require the city to locate requested records in more than one agency. Bloomberg attorneys limited the search to records in their own files — even though most of the documents would involve the ex-mayor and, presumably, be in the hands of the Giuliani Center.

The situation breeds confusion, said Freeman, the state FOI official. "There are some records that may have been maintained by the city that are not there now, but are instead kept in the Giuliani archives," he said.

Freeman and other critics say the administration is neglecting the overriding importance of keeping public documents accessible to the public — particularly given their historical value.

"These documents are important for the historical record because people want to know how the city responded during this historical crisis — to find out what it did right, what it did wrong," said Gene Russianoff, a senior attorney with the New York Public Interest Research Group.

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Giuliani records deal still raises questions
New York's top open-records official says revised plan is still inconsistent with state's Freedom of Information law.  02.28.02