Mason Woolley v. Attorney General's Office (SPR 20180381)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor ofR ecords April 6, 2018 SPRlS/381 Lorraine A.G. Tarrow, Esq. Assistant Attorney General & Records Access Officer Office of the Attorney General One Ashburton Place, 18th Floor Boston, MA 02108 Dear Attorney Tarrow: I have received the petition from Mr. Mason Woolley appealing the response from the Attorney General's Office (AGO) regarding a request for public records. G. L. c. 66, § IOA; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). Mr. Woolley had filed a complaint with the AGO's Civil Rights Division. He is requesting from the AGO "a copy of [his] original complaint, correspondence within the office regarding the complaint, correspondence and communication with the subjects of the complaint, and any documents which relate to the discussion or review of laws regarding the complaint and the laws the subject of the complaint may have violated." The AGO provided the response to Mr. Woolley's Fair Information Practices Act (FIPA) request along with a Response Letter from the Civil Rights Division to Mr. Woolley. Those documents have been provided to Mr. Woolley. Appeal Under the Public Records Law and the Access Regulations (Regulations) all requests for public records must be met with a response within ten business days of receipt of the request. G. L. c. 66, § IO(a)-(b). The response may contain, among other things, an offer to provide records, a fee estimate for provision of the records, or a denial. G. L. c. 66, § 1O (b ). All records custodians must comply with both the Public Records Law and the Regulations with respect to the timeliness of response. The duty to comply with requests for records extends to those records that exist and are in the possession, custody, or control of the custodian ofrecords at the time of the request. See G. L. c. 66, § 1O (a)(ii), (b )(ii). Also, the duty to comply with requests for records extends to identifying the agency or municipality that may be in possession, custody, or control of the public record sought, if known. See G. L. c. 66, § IO(b)(iii). It is the burden of the records custodian to demonstrate the application of an exemption in order to withhold a requested record. G. L. c. 66, § IO(b)(iv) (written response must "identify One Ashburton Place, Room 1719, Boston, Massachusetts 02108 • (617) 727-2832• Fax: (617) 727-5914 sec.state.ma.us/pre• pre@sec.state.ma.us

Lorraine A.G. Tarrow, Esq. SPR18/381 Pg.2 April 6, 2018 any records, categories of records or portions of records that the agency or municipality intends to withhold, and provide the specific reasons for such withholding, including the specific exemption or exemptions upon which the withholding is based ... "); 950 C.M.R. 32.06(3); see also Dist. Attorney for the Norfolk Dist. v. Flatley, 419 Mass. 507, 511 (1995) (custodian has the burden of establishing the applicability of an exemption). In an email dated March 23, 2018, from the AGO to our office you explain the AGO gave Mr. Woolley everything they had in their file. Further, in light of the AGO's March 23rd response, confirming there are no more responsive records available and I find the AGO has met its burden in responding to this request. See G. L. c. 66, § 1O (b )(ii). Sincerely, ~ Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records cc: Mr. Mason Woolley