Curses — FOILed Again!

Bill de Blasio promised to have the “most transparent administration” in city history — then adopted policies that are slowwalking even minor Freedom of Information Law requests.

Ironically, the Associated Press had to file a FOIL request just get the facts on City Hall’s foiling of FOIL requests.

The background: Last May, the mayor’s lawyers told agencies they would take over any FOIL queries whose “level of attention, sensitivity, or controversy could result in questions for City Hall.”

By last fall, it was already plain that this was delaying the release of information. So the AP asked City Hall for info on the first four months of FOIL filings sent to the central office — then had to make its own FOIL request to get answers.

Turns out many of the requests that “had” to be routed through top lawyers were just plain trivial — like a Queens man’s request for fivedecadeold records of his late city-employee granddad.

And others haven’t been answered after months, from a query for emails between Chelsea Clinton and Department of Education officials to a retired schoolteacher’s request for info on the mayor’s July sitdown with union officials at a Brooklyn school.

The AP request uncovered records on 54 FOIL cases, at least five of which were still unresolved. And when City Hall did cough up answers, it still took more than six months on average to do so.

The failure to respond within 20 business days — if only with a “we need more time” notice — violates the FOIL laws. Even with notice, the stonewalling flies in the face of the spirit of the Freedom of Information Law.

Count “most transparent administration ever” as one more broken promise.