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| Daley's FOI request (FULL REQUEST) |
Daley last Friday filed a formal request for the information associated with the invoices submitted by the firm hired by the Council for the investigation, just three days after the Council voted 8 - 3 against requesting that same information.
The bills and invoices were redacted before being shared with the Council, to protect the confidentiality of employees who spoke with the investigator about their concerns. When Mayor Drew filed an August 7th request for information about those employees, Union President Geen Thazampallath said releasing this information would have a chilling effect on employees, "... he would be able to retaliate."
Daley's request is under the Freedom of Information Act, he writes:
... the disclosure of the requested information is in the public interest and will contribute significantly to the public's understanding of how $40,000 of taxpayer money was spent in relation to the engageemnt of LeClairRyan 'to represent the Common council of the city of Middletown ("Common Council") in conducing an independent investigation of the Office of the Mayor and the Office of the General Counsel in connection with a complaint of alleged violation of the City's sexual and other harrassment policy, as well as in responding to correspondence from the UPSEU Local #6457.There is some controversy over whether these records can be released under the Freedom of Information Act. Documents that fall under attorney/client privilege, or attorney work products, or those related to whistleblower protection statutes, may be exempt.
The rulings on the FOI requests by Mayor Drew, by Daley, and by others have now become contentious issues arising from the investigation of the mayor.
<Disclosure: The Eye has filed several requests for documents as well.>
The Corporation Counsel, and "An Abundance of Caution"
Because the Office of the General Counsel was itself also a subject of the investigation, the Corporation Counsel, Attorney Daniel Ryan, has been providing legal guidance to the city on matters arising from it. Whether this is appropriate has been challenged by Councilman Seb Giuliano, who points out that the Corporation Counsel serves at the pleasure of the Mayor, who is under investigation.
Michael Rose is an outside attorney who has been representing the City and its officers and employees in the investigation into the Mayor and the General Counsel's office. Rose has not publicly commented on whether the Corporation Council could rule on issues related to this investigation of the mayor and the General Counsel.
However, Rose previously represented the Bristol City Council in its investigation of their mayor. In his 2017 report to the Bristol City Council, Attorney Rose wrote, "Moreover, the Council was within its rights to seek legal guidance from outside the Corporation Counsel’s office since the inquiry involved the actions of the Mayor, who had appointing authority over the Corporation Counsel."
Attorney Ryan has now recused himself, writing:
However, since Councilman Giuliano has objected to the Corporation Counsel representing him in this regard because of a purported "conflict of interest", the Corporation Counsel chooses to utilize an abundance of caution in this instance and to avoid even the appearance of impropriety and therefore declines to represent Councilman Giuliano in the above captioned matter.General Counsel Brig Smith will choose an outside attorney to provide legal advice on these issues. Smith is working with the Connecticut Association of Municipal Attorneys to identify ones with expertise in the Freedom of Information Act.
Smith said, "My goal is to find someone who is an honest broker, with no connections to my office, and no political contributions to any elected official in the city."
6 comments:
Will Gerry and Drew please stop it! Don't give us the BS that the taxpayers want to know what they spent $40k on in this report? That's like saying "it's for the children". These are the same guys that gave Wesleyan University $850k to "assist" in the repairs of their tennis courts so the "taxpayer" can have limited use of them during the summer months.
What this is ALL about is getting the names for Dan so he can intimidate and harass the employees who spoke against his brand of authority! And to Councilman Santangelo, the one who needs EAP is not those who testified during the investigation....it's the Mayor himself.
Please stop wasting the cities money!
I'm a taxpayer and I want to know. So don't say no one wants to know. And yes, it is for the children. They will inherit the toxicity in this city. Uless the adults grow up. I don't know the facts and I don't have a "side" in this, but I do know you're one angry dude. I don't think I've read one comment here by you.that wasn't a rant. I see your name and immediately consider the source. Do you Tweet, too? By the way, I think it was $750,000. That's the threshold for a referendum.
Anonymous Taxpayer, Sept. 14, 2018 at 1:16pm
Hey Dude! Yes, I can be "one angry dude." when I see political games being played. If I "rant" it's because I don't like the tactics, bullying, and lying going on in Middletown politics. A city I was born and lived in my entire life. You have the right to say what you want, as do I.
If you want to know how the $40k was spent, FOI the bill from the investigation. I'm with you on one statement you made, that this city is presently "toxic". It wasn't always like that, but it turned that way rather quickly.
For argument sake, let's use the $750k for the tennis courts and the $40k for the Common Council investigation, for a total of $790k. Now that would have benefited children in our city. Seeing as how you don't have a "side" in this, maybe knowing how much money was handed out in just these two incidents could possibly anger you too.
Would you like me to "tweet"?
I'd laugh at all of this if it weren't so sad. The fact that they want the breakdown of invoices isn't to understand 40k. They know the investigation should have cost 20 to 25 but soooo many people wanted to be interviewed it prolonged the investigation. So really they're only questioning 15 to 20k in charges at the most. If names get released we'll have lawsuits left and right from those brave city employees that risked retaliation from the worst mayor in our history the taxpayers would beg to have left this 15/20k alone. When 5 or 10 lawsuits violating whistleblower protections come up that wont be cheap. I wish this mayor would do us all a favor and just step down.
"After being roundly rebuffed by his colleagues on the Common Council, Councilman Gerry Daley is trying a new tactic to obtain confidential information about the investigation into Mayor Drew ..."
This reminds me of the time that the foxes roundly rebuffed the hens' request for enhanced nighttime security.
Also, this is not "confidential" information. All taxpayers in Middletown are entitled to know what a select few council members waste our money on. Seb made this point while demanding materials from another investigation, and is now trying to cover up this folly. Only cowards fear the truth.
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