Maurice Felder v. Attorney General's Office (SPR 20190861)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records May 14, 2019 SPR19/0861 Lorraine Tarrow, Esq. Assistant Attorney General/Records Access Officer Office of the Attorney General One Ashburton Place Boston, MA 01208 Dear Attorney Tarrow: I have received the petition of Maurice Felder appealing the response of the Office of the Attorney General (AGO) to a request for public records. G. L. c. 66, § 1O A; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). Specifically, on March 19, 2019, Mr. Felder requested the following records "any public documents concerning the grant of any financial assistance to any witnesses in the case of Commonwealth v. Maurice Felder." The AGO provided a response on March 20, 2019. Unsatisfied with the AGO's response, Mr. Felder appealed to this office and SPR19/0861 was opened as a result. The AGO's March 20th response In its March 20th response, the AGO indicated "to the extent the AGO has any records responsive to your request, and without confirming or denying that such confidential records exist and are in our possession, they would fall within an exemption to the definition of public records under G.L. c. 4, § 7, cl. 26(a) as they are specifically and by necessary implication exempted by disclosure by statute (G.L. c. 12, § 1 lK, G.L. c. 258C, §4 and 940 CMR 14.09; G.L. c. 66A, §2(c); G.L. c. 258C, §5; and G.L. c. 265, §24C)." Mr. Felder's letter dated April 26, 2019 In his April 26th letter addressed to this office, Mr. Felder references a different individual than the individual named in his request to the AGO. He also indicates "[p]lease send me the names, so I can narrow the names down to the right [specific individual]." Mr. Felder notes "[t]his request requires your office to provide a written response to this request within ten (10) business days." 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 Tarrow, Esq. SPR19/0861 Page2 May 14, 2019 Based on this April 26th letter, the basis of Mr. Felder's appeal is unclear. Specifically, it is unclear whether he seeks records directly from this office. Please note that this office is statutorily charged with determining the public records status of government records. It is not a warehouse for all government records. This office is the custodian of records solely related to the operation of the Public Records Division. It is also unclear if Mr. Felder is appealing the AGO's Exemption (a) claim described in the March 20th response. Mr. Felder may clarify these matters and resubmit the appeal to this office. See 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1)(±) (all petitions for appeal shall be in writing and shall specifically describe the nature of the requestor's objections to the response or failure to provide a timely response). Sincerely, Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records cc: Maurice Felder