Gov. McKee and Infante-Green Spar Over Failure to Turn Over Documents
Kate Nagle, News Editor
Gov. McKee and Infante-Green Spar Over Failure to Turn Over Documents
A GoLocal request for documents is tied to the $70 million contract awarded by the Providence Public School Department -- the contract has been the subject of an ongoing investigation by the news site. SEE INVESTIGATIVE STORIES BELOW
Specifically, GoLocal requested from the state:
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTPlease provide copies of any communication between Rhode Island Department of Education and employees of the Providence School Department regarding the Facilities Contract since January 1, 2023. This should include, but not be limited to emails or text messages.
On Tuesday, August 29, before GoLocal filed a lawsuit against RIDE and McKee in a phone call with GoLocal24’s CEO and co-founder Josh Fenton, legal counsel for the Rhode Island Department of Education said, “This is a screw-up by the Governor’s office. We are not responsible. We are not an executive branch agency.”
Neither RIDE nor McKee responded to the Access to Public Records Act request. The submission by GoLocal filed the public records request under the education tab of the Governor’s office online tool for submitting APRA requests.
McKee promotes the public's right to public documents and features the APRA function on the homepage of his state website.
On September 6, GoLocal filed a lawsuit in Providence Superior Court seeking court action to compel RIDE and McKee to comply with Rhode Island’s Access to Public Records Act (APRA).
GoLocal initially filed the request for the documents on August 3, and the state acknowledged that it received GoLocal's document request that same day.
By law, "A public body receiving a request shall permit the inspection or copying within ten (10) business days after receiving a request. If the inspection or copying is not permitted within ten (10) business days, the public body shall forthwith explain in writing the need for additional time to comply with the request. Any such explanation must be particularized to the specific request made. In such cases the public body may have up to an additional twenty (20) business days to comply with the request if it can demonstrate that the voluminous nature of the request, the number of requests for records pending, or the difficulty in searching for and retrieving or copying the requested records, is such that additional time is necessary to avoid imposing an undue burden on the public body."
But neither RIDE nor McKee responded to the request after the state acknowledged that it received GoLocal's request.
This week, McKee’s chief legal counsel, Claire Richards, filed a motion on behalf of the Governor in the superior court requesting that McKee be removed from the lawsuit and now placing the blame for the non-compliance on Infante-Green and her team.
According to the filing, "To start, nearly all the allegations in the Complaint specifically relate to RIDE. To recite but a few of the Complaint’s twenty-eight references to RIDE, the Complaint claims “RIDE ignored plaintiff’s APRA request and allowed the time frames set forth in the statute elapse.”
GoLocal specifically cited the Governor in the suit after RIDE’s legal counsel told GoLocal that the failure to provide documents under the requirements of the state’s public records statute was the governor's fault.
The Governor’s motion goes on to state, “It is undisputed that Plaintiff did not submit a request to the Governor nor did the Governor deny access to records Plaintiff requested. Because the Plaintiff has no cause of action under the APRA against the Governor, its Complaint must be dismissed pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6) of the Superior Court Rules of Civil Procedure."
McKee's filing does not assert that there was not a violation.
The Governor’s motion and other aspects of the case are scheduled to be heard by Superior Court Judge Christopher Smith on October 6.