Governor Cuomo Edits Archive to Protect Secrets
The New York Times reports that Governor Cuomo has his staff going to the state archives to remove documents and reviewing existing documents before sending them to the archives. Apparently the controversy is surrounding a Times Union newspaper story about Troopergate, an investigation conducted by Cuomo into Elliot Spitzer's use of State Troopers for political purposes.
Apparently the state archives had made some records public that Cuomo's group felt should be private, and inaccurately responded to a NY Times Freedom of Information Act Request related to these records, saying they had no such records available.
Government records retention rules are called records retention schedules and are managed by the archives. The NY State rules are available here:
http://www.archives.nysed.gov/a/records/mr_laws_state.shtml
The article implies that Cuomo is taking these actions to prepare for a 2016 run for President. Cuomo claims the records are available through other agencies - so why remove them? Public access to records is a transparency step that allows for accountability, even if that accountability happens years later.
image: /www.evesmag.com
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