There is little doubt that we have a crisis of confidence in government here in New York, driven in part by a culture of corruption that often seems to be getting worse. The Town of Oyster Bay has not been immune.
On the heels of the recent scandal surrounding bribery allegations and Harendra Singh, the town deliberately ignored a Freedom of Information Law request from Reclaim New York.
Overall, 77 percent of governments on Long Island fulfilled these requests, in accordance with the law, by the beginning of May. Oyster Bay ignored the same request and a formal appeal.
Reclaim’s request for information asked the town to show how it was spending tax dollars, finally making this information public for all.
Making this basic spending ledger available to everyone is the first step toward citizen oversight of local governments. It’s important that you and your neighbors are able to hold the Town of Oyster Bay accountable for questionable contracts. Ultimately, these documents should be proactively posted online. But the town is far from being a leader on transparency.
Recently, only after a string of bad press and Reclaim’s lawsuit to enforce the transparency law, Oyster Bay finally sent to the requested files.
The effort to pry the information from the town took months and thousands of dollars in legal fees. Most citizens won’t have free time for months of work, plus $5,000.
The actions of the town show they are finally responding to our request out of public relations concerns, not any change in attitude on open government. This isn’t real transparency.
The town’s actions illustrate a pattern of bad behavior. A recent case brought by Robert Ripp against the town revealed their use of an absurd $1,900 fee to try to block his records request. Oyster Bay lost the case.
That is why Reclaim New York’s lawsuit will continue, despite the town’s late response.
Oyster Bay now has the opportunity to turn a negative into a positive. First, the town could learn from this experience. Too long viewed as Long Island’s poster child for closed government, Oyster Bay can champion a new approach with key changes that create more open government.
They should adopt a new transparency roadmap, proactively posting expenditure information and freedom of information requests online, as well as training personnel on the state’s transparency laws.
Second, the current litigation can establish a precedent to help all New Yorkers by affirming the opinion of the State Committee on Open Government that indicates citizens who are unreasonably denied in Freedom of Information Law cases–including ignored–may recoup legal fees.
Transparency isn’t a hope or a goal. It’s the law, and we need more of it.
You can join this unprecedented effort to demand open government at www.nytransparency.org, which provides resources for you to get involved and work with others to create citizen-driven oversight across New York.
–Brandon Muir, Reclaim New York
