So much for transparency
AG backs T secrecy
Attorney General Maura Healey yesterday touted the importance of transparency in government to a room full of Massachusetts newspaper publishers — but hours later, her office said that a consultant’s report on the MBTA’s family leave policy should be kept secret from the public, reversing a ruling by the secretary of state.
“I think transparency in government is as important as it’s ever been,” Healey said in a speech to the Massachusetts Newspaper Publishers Association.
The AG also said government agencies should take “seriously” rulings made by the supervisor of records in Secretary of State William F. Galvin’s office.
Yet later yesterday afternoon, her office reversed a ruling by Galvin’s public records supervisor, Shawn A. Williams, after he asked the AG to enforce his decision to release at least parts of the consultant’s report to the Boston Herald. The T had sought to keep the report from the public by arguing attorney-client privilege, but Williams was not persuaded and ordered the agency to release it.
The Herald first requested a copy of the report, prepared by the firm Morgan, Brown & Joy, a year ago. The T hired the firm to audit its leave policies and practices and “ensure compliance with state and federal law.”
The T produced a glossy set of 21 recommendations the firm came up with, many of which the agency has already put in place. But it never released the report itself.
Healey’s office said it reached its decision by relying solely on affidavits provided by the T and its attorneys, according to a threepage letter to the Herald from Jonathan Sclarsic, an assistant attorney general and the head of her open government division.
“Because the Report appears to be subject to the attorney’s client privilege in its entirety, the MBTA is not required to disclose it,” Sclarsic wrote, saying there appears to be “no non-exempt, segregable portions” that could be released.
“We now consider this matter closed,” he wrote.
Williams, the records supervisor, has repeatedly found the T’s argument of attorney-client privilege to be unconvincing, at one point saying that it wasn’t clear if the law firm was working for the transit agency in “its capacity as counsel,” or as a consultant.
Brian McNiff, a Galvin spokesman, said yesterday his office is now reviewing Healey’s letter.
“The office stands by its position,” he said.
Oddly enough, Healey’s office never inspected the report itself; her aides argued that there’s nothing in the law or regulations that allow them to review it.
The AG’s office did not make Healey available for an interview about this article last night.
“Our office remains committed to enforcing the public records law and will continue to develop a strong working relationship with the supervisor of records,” spokeswoman Emily Snyder said.
That statement echoed Healey’s remarks earlier in the day to the newspaper publishers. She said she was committed to her “charge and responsibility” of enforcing the public records law, pointing to her decision last week to sue a group of district attorneys who refused to release a list of cases they prosecuted.
‘I think transparency in government is as important as it’s ever been.’ — MAURA HEALEY Attorney General