A fair fight for FOILs

New York’s Freedom of Information Law promises to shine a light on too often obscured inner workings of government. Just write a letter, request a document from the agency that produced it and presto — the information is yours. Except when “no” is the answer. When city or state stalls interminably or claims an exemption to their obligation to share information, the deck is stacked against citizens who believe an agency is wrongfully keeping them in the dark.

For the second time in two years, Gov. Cuomo is about to receive on his desk a bipartisan bill that just so ever slightly levels the playing field when those requesting documents believe the government’s denial of a FOIL request is so off base that they file lawsuits in hopes a judge will pry the government’s records loose.

How? By making sure that the attorneys filing the lawsuits get their fees paid by defendants whenever a judge rules that the government was wrong to keep records under wraps.

Fair’s fair. The crapshoot system now is anything but.

The reform group Reinvent Albany found in reviewing nearly 900 FOIL lawsuits over the last 11 years that even though plaintiffs in more than three out of five cases snagged a ruling deeming the government had wrongly withheld documents, judges only awarded fees about half the time.

Worse, untold numbers of lawsuits never get filed in the first place for want of funds to pay attorneys. Few of us — not even the Daily News — can afford to roll the dice time and again.

The only reason for Cuomo to veto would be an allergy to sunlight and with it a determination to keep government business under wraps. That’s not the way you roll, governor — is it?