Medford City Hall under highly incompetent Stephanie Muccini-Burke will do everything in its power to deny residents their right to documents and their right to freedom of speech and freedom of the press.
Office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth
Public Records Division
One Ashburton Place, Room 1719
Boston, MA 02108
Dear Public Records Division:
Regarding my request SPR 06-0029, City Hall Medford, delinquent by almost
90 days, now wants to put a further hurdle to my public records request by
attempting to charge me $120.48
Here are my objections to this outrageous fee:
1)My request contained this notice:
I recognize that you may charge reasonable costs for copies, as well as for personnel time needed to comply with this request. If you expect costs to exceed $10.00, please provide a detailed fee estimate.
City
Hall never offered me the opportunity to object to an estimate. This
is their m.o. It is a dictatorship demanding from the residents they
are supposed to serve.
2)With
Medford City Hall's long history of seeking excuses - both legitimate
and illegitimate - in denying records requests which can expose wrongful
conduct by those at City Hall, I have no idea
what they are offering me for $120.48
a)are they offering me my own letters as documents for this outrageous sum?
b)my
search is for legitimate documents on why a teacher, Dxx Xxxxxxxxx,
left Medford High School as of June 30, 2015 - if he was forced to
resign or fired, and if inappropriate behavior allegedly was involved;
and documents on an alleged incident with bomb sniffing dogs in 2014,
2015 being allegedly hushed up at election time.
3)The
individual sending the response, Mark E. Rumley, City Solicitor, has
made every maneuver imaginable to squelch free speech, stifle
transparency, and make a mockery of our Constitution.
Here's
what Mr. Rumley said to a retired judge on or about 11/16/08 “The
notion the city would censor or squelch free speech is baseless and as
city solicitor I would find any such effort repugnant.”
Joe Viglione
4)The retired judge was hired by ex Mayor Michael J. McGlynn and it was a dog and pony show.
Eight
years later there is no public access TV and city hall has about 500K
in the bank of our money, money that I and other cable rate payers are
charged - yet we do not receive the product. Had there been public
access tv, the current "mayor" would, no doubt, not be in office. These
individuals at Medford City Hall have proved to be untrustworthy,
downright dishonest, and serve themselves not the public.
So
if I'm paying an enormous cable bill, certainly over 12K in 13 years in
Medford, why the "double dipping" to take cable money from me, not give
me what I pay for, demand 120.48 from me, knowing that they have
dragged me through the court system for years costing me thousands and
thousands of dollars in legal fees all to shut me up and retaliate for
bringing the public this information the public has a right to.
Medfod
retaliates against citizens - a Cheryl Voight, a Margaret McMillan
called "a constant complainer," the late Pat Fiorello bullied by city
hall and TV3 (he, allegedly, was Mayor McGlynn's scoutmaster when
McGlynn was a boy,) many citizens besmirched, harassed and litigated
against in order to stifle and squelch free speech.
5)There
is a serious allegation that Solicitor Rumley was working for his own
business as a bill collector at Somerville District Court on Thursdays.
This practice may have ceased since I brought it to light; Rumley
reportedly saying to a citizen "You ratted me out to Joe." The citizen
reportedly replying "court is a public place, you were there."
(paraphrased.)
Whether
Rumley had "permission" of the Mayor or not, the citizens expected a
city solicitor to be working for the city on Thursdays, not
"moonlighting," if the serious allegation is true.
Rumley
is so hypocritical as to allege a comment about a "water pistol" and a
raging battle constitute a terrorist threat (????) when the comment
referred to the alleged situations with a high school teacher and the
bomb sniffing dogs that are the very subject of this public records
request.
On
December 3, 2015 I filed the request; on December 8, 2015 City Hall
retaliated and spent enormous resources deciding they would rather tie
this journalist up in court rather than respond to this request. Over
three months have elapsed and now the new stunt is to charge me money
rather than:
a)give me an estimate in advance, as required by my notice in my request
b)let me know if they are actually giving me the materials requested or if this is another stalling
tactic and/or distraction to keep citizens from knowing the truth about the alleged documents.
As
a human being outside of city hall, I enjoy talking to Mr. Rumley and
appreciate him as a citizen of Medford. As a city solicitor, I find
that his underhanded tactics are brutal, vicious, vindictive, downright
nasty, and do much to show his Jekyll and Hyde personality which causes
great damage to the citizens of Medford.
The
City of Medford has ripped off the citizens for over a decade. This
insulting request for over one hundred dollars is just Mark Rumley
spitting in the face of a resident who has the best interests of Medford
at heart.
I
request the Public Records Division note the outrageous three month
period they have liberally taken to accurately respond to SPR 06-0029,
and this stunt of not giving me an estimate prior to doing the work -
AND - not allowing me the opportunity to inspect the documents but
wanting to charge me for materials that I may not need, that they may be
turning over as a distraction to squelch this investigation by this
award-winning access TV producer and published music journalist.
Since
I have paid a cable TV fee and legal fees due to wrongful conduct of
Medford City Hall, I find this new attempt to drain a citizen of his
resources absolutely despicable and request that since City Hall did not
give me an estimate, City Hall be required to turn the materials over
to me at no charge.
Respectfully,