Politics

Bloomberg dragging his feet over open records request

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Greg Campbell Contributor
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New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s office is ignoring an open records request by a Colorado reporter that could shed light more light on how deeply involved the anti-gun mayor has been in Colorado politics lately.

Reporter Todd Shepherd, who runs the Drudge-like Complete Colorado website, wrote on Wednesday that Bloomberg’s office has been incommunicado regarding his request for documents under New York’s Freedom of Information Law (FOIL).

Bloomberg’s office received Shepherd’s request on June 3 and promised on June 13 to respond with a status update within 20 business days.

“If I’m counting my holidays correctly, that means I should have been contacted with the status update on or about July 15 or 16,” Shepherd wrote. “It’s now August 13, and I have received nothing.”

Shepherd emailed two people in the FOIL division of the New York City mayor’s office and has had no response.

It’s been no mystery that Bloomberg has had his fingers in Colorado politics as the Democratic-controlled state legislature passed a slate of controversial gun control bills this year. Open records obtained by Shepherd show that Bloomberg, who founded the anti-gun Mayors Against Illegal Guns group, called Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper at two critical points during the gun control debate in the capitol.

And Bloomberg has promised to help the campaigns of Colorado Senate President John Morse and Sen. Angela Giron, Democrats who are facing Sept. 10 recall elections because of their support of the gun laws.

“Yes, I’m going to give some money, because I think they’ve done what’s right for the people of Colorado,” he’s quoted as saying in The Capital, an online New York politics site. “The people of Colorado are Americans. It shows leadership and I think you have an obligation to support those that you agree with.”

Shepherd didn’t specify what sort of documents he’s seeking from Bloomberg and wrote that there’s no guarantee that he will learn anything worthwhile.

“[But] we know for sure nothing can be learned as long as no documents are provided,” he wrote.

“Bloomberg’s office is thumbing their nose at the New York Freedom of Information Law,” he continued. “It’s unacceptable, they should be taken to task by other media that care about the integrity of open records laws, and they should prioritize my now-overdue request. But I won’t hold my breath.”

A message left at Bloomberg’s FOIL office by The Daily Caller News Foundation was not immediately returned.

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