Targeting Critics and Delaying Public Records

I ran a civic experiment on the City's equitable response to information requests from who they consider friends or foes. Guess what the outcomes was?

My Attorney and the City Attorney's agreed that I could obtain information not related to the lawsuit filed, without legal assistance and in compliance with the Attorney Ethics Rules.. 

Once the lawsuit was filed, the City treated all requests like they were part of the lawsuit. They sent the requests to my Attorney to add legal costs to lawsuit, even though the requests were not part of the suit. The City’s position turned out to be, once a lawsuit has been filed, we scrutinize all requests. In reality, the city’s tactics of delay and deny started long before the lawsuit was filed. 

Once COVID struck, obtaining information slowed to a grind. Prior to this, anyone could pop into the building department to review permit data on specific properties. The service was speedy; I would be in and out in 5 minutes. The building department has been closed to the public since March 2020.  So, what was in my hands in minutes was now taking 2-3 weeks to obtain. The City plays pandemic politics and creates needless delays to obstruct the information flow to those they consider critics.

Some friends and I submitted, at the same time, informal requests for a residential permit file and see how the response goes. This experiment was run four times in a month. The “unknown” citizens all received their unredacted documents within 1 day (in one request, 1 hour) and were handled by the permit technicians in the office. My requests were all handled by the building department manager, Mr. McKinney. For each request, I received an emailed letter informing me that the office was very busy and it would take 2-3 weeks to respond, but they would try to do better. My requests were being sent to the legal office, run through a multi-step process and held there. None of my friends received a department letter; My documents arrived much later and redacted.

Mr. McKinney was asked if all permit review requests were being forwarded to the legal office. He replied that all requests are being reviewed by legal. This was a blatant lie. In a Right-to-Know request to verify the truth of Mr. McKinney’s statement, the legal office was asked to produce all permit requests and documents submitted to the legal office September through October 2020. It took three months for the office to respond and other than my requests, I received one additional document. How could this be? 

Turns out the City considered the other requests “transitory” records under RSA 33-a,  and, as such, the civic experiment documents were all deleted.

The right to obtain timely information should not be hindered because the City will not accept a critic asking for information. When you file a lawsuit for any issue, you don’t give up your right to understand what your government is doing. City Officials will not provide equal service to those they don’t like.

The New Hampshire Right-to-Know Coalition held a workshop attended by a number of Nashua residents and it covered how to submit a Right-to-Know request and the laws governing these requests. Citizens do not have to file a request using their name. The City must respond to anonymous requests. To allow yourself equal access to information, do not identify yourself on information requests. Do not give the city an opportunity to silence you should they decide that you are a critic. Good governments do not do this.