FOILed again

For years, New York state’s top Freedom of Information Law expert, Bob Freeman, sexually harassed journalists who came to him for advice. We are pleased he is gone. But Freeman was a champion of government transparency with deep knowledge of the law. Operating independently of Gov. Cuomo and his secretive administration, he was a reliable resource for reporters and the public mining the serpentine state bureaucracy in search of vital information. His advisory opinions often helped persuade judges to side for openness on crucial transparency questions.

In that department, there are real reasons to worry about Freeman’s newly announced replacement as head of the Committee on Open Government.

The Cuomo administration kept Shoshanah Bewlay’s hiring secret until simultaneously springing it on the public and the 11 members of the panel she now leads.

The Albany Times Union reports that Bewlay, when counsel at the state’s Office of Information Technology Services, routinely wrote opinions favoring either delay or denial of records requests.

The journalists and others hurt by Freeman’s behavior deserve a real ally in his stead. They shouldn’t have been forced to choose between their own right not to be harassed and their deep belief in the presumption of disclosure under public records laws.

We hope Bewlay proves us and other skeptics wrong. In the meantime, we’re calling on FOIL specialists and attorneys to offer services pro bono to people who need advice on seeking records from a state government all too happy to keep its work hidden from the public.