Hempstead Town has not complied with public records request
Records pertaining to current and former Hempstead Town contractors sought. Credit: Newsday/Steve Pfost
The Town of Hempstead has let two Freedom of Information requests from Newsday languish for four and six months, respectively, which public ethics advocates say seems to defy state law meant to ensure government transparency.
Newsday asked in July and September for records on current town vendor Dover Gourmet Corp. and former vendor Double Eagle Golf, including contracts, correspondence and memos. So far the town has provided only some of the Dover documents and, until Wednesday, none on Double Eagle.
“This appears to be a really blatant abuse of any discretion under the Freedom of Information Law,” said Susan Lerner, executive director of the nonprofit Common Cause New York. “FOIL was not designed to allow a government entity to just play hide-the-ball indefinitely.”
State law calls on governments to at least acknowledge receiving such requests in five business days and to provide documents subject to disclosure 20 business days after that, if possible.
The town provided the first Double Eagle records Wednesday — after Newsday asked the town for comment on the outstanding requests. Hempstead spokesman Greg Blower said Supervisor Don Clavin directed town officials to provide the rest by Jan. 31.
Clavin was elected in November and took office earlier this month. Clavin and Blower said they had been unaware of the FOIL requests before Newsday's inquiry Tuesday.
“If you’re entitled to it, you should get the documents,” Clavin said.
Dover and Double Eagle have been the subject of recent political controversy, which raises questions about the cause of the slow response, said Alex Camarda, a senior policy adviser for the good government group Reinvent Albany.
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