From The Journal News
The public’s right to know how government operates — and how it spends taxpayers’ money — supersedes local laws that pledge “confidentiality” and aim to protect the “privacy” of public officials.
A state Supreme Court ruling this week granted The Journal News, and by extension the citizens of White Plains, a look at documents related to a city Board of Ethics probe of former Mayor Adam Bradley. In Tuesday’s ruling, Judge James W. Hubert makes clear that the state’s Freedom of Information Law trumps local statutes — in this case, an ethics law that includes a confidentiality provision.