Public Records Division
Secretary of the Commonwealth
McCormack Building, #1611
1 Ashburton Place
Boston MA 02108
Dear Public Records Division:
I am appealing the response from the office of the Attorney General.
Please be advised that the mayor-elect of Medford, Attorney Breanna Lungo-Koehn, currently vice president of the Medford City Council, is CC:'d in this correspondence. Attorney Lungo-Koehn ran on transparency, unity, community. The previous two mayors involved in this P/E/G access TV "fiasco," the description of Adam Knight, a fellow councilor with Lungo-Koehn, outgoing Mayor Muccini-Burke and ex mayor Michael J. McGlynn, covered for the "gang" - and that's what it was - a "gang" at Medford Community Cablevision, Inc., especially since the city lawyer, Mark E. Rumley, was appointed to the highly suspicious board of directors.
I will be sharing this e mail with some advisors as this merry-go-round - and I'm being respectful, this insanity in regards to public monies and documents unfairly withheld, does damage to the community media in Medford.
Since I am the individual who led the charge AND forced ex Mayor McGlynn's hand to cut a deal with MCC TV3 and remove them from the control of the TV station, the Office of the Attorney General has a clear responsibility to the residents of Medford, especially cable TV ratepayers, to be forthright.
I find the response from the AG's office to be lacking and appeal their failure to respond.
Recently the Public Records Division determined that this investigative reporter receive the 64 page document on the compensation fraud committed by approximately 27 Medford Police Department officers. City Solicitor Rumley, the same individual who was on the MCC TV3 board of directors - and who shamefully violated his oath of office - fracturing the 1st and 14th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution - keeping citizens out of access rather than "facilitating local programming" and performing "outreach," the job of a board member, filed a "motion to reconsider" which failed. One of the reasons given by the Public Records Division was the public's interest. Note Page 3 of SPR19-2081 below from that case: "...there is strong public interest in monitoring public expenditures and public employees have a diminished expectation of privacy with respect to public employment matters."
The city of Medford, unlike other cities and towns, co-owned the equipment. So unlike Pop Warner baseball or other non-profits, where the city is supposed to be somewhat "hands off," the Medford Community Cablevision, Inc. case is unique.
The city had as much of a fiduciary obligation to the P/E/G access - cable TV subscribers as the non-profit did. Both failed miserably. Both intentionally failed to provide the public with the information they were required - by law - to document and publish.
It appears that the Attorney General's office, though aware of the definition, is intentionally ignoring it. Thus the definition of "fiduciary obligation" is enclosed:
"Fiduciary obligation is the obligation or trust imposed by law on officials of an organization making them liable for the proper use and disbursement of the organization's money, funds and property.
Solicitor Rumley played cute, as usual, to the detriment of the citizens of Medford.
The Rumley sleight of hand is no stranger to the Public Records Division, nor to the citizens of Medford delighted to hear that Rumley allegedly is resigning.
Martha Coakley and Maura Healey failed to step up and address this quickly and efficiently. They appeared to be very close to the McGlynn and Burke administrations. Over six years have elapsed, and this bizarre "broken record" that "law enforcement" might be "impeded" is ridiculous. City Hall said the same thing about the 27 officers involved in compensation fraud. The release of the documents to me in November did nothing to compromise D.A. Marian Ryan's alleged investigation. These red herrings are harmful to Medford media. They had a clear impact on the election in regards to school committee and city council.
Here is my appeal:
1)I am appealing the response from the office of the Attorney General, public charities division
2)This request - the case, actually - goes back to 2013. The public has great concerns over allegedly missing monies, as reported in the Medford Transcript (about 38k.) Based on information and belief (being an investigative reporter, being
a former member of MCC TV3 who resigned because of the alleged malfeasance and physical assaults and mental harassment by the board members of Medford Community Cablevision, Inc., all in this correspondence have an idea that I know a lot more than I am putting into print here.
3)The Public Records Law was created to bring some sunlight to shred the darkness.
The office of the Attorney General sounds like a broken record. The Public Charities Division has an obligation to quickly ascertain if Medford Community Cablevision, Inc. can dissolve. If the Attorney General's office fails to make a determination in a timely fashion, do the citizens lose all rights - due to statutory rules - to sue the individuals that were on the questionable board of directors,
including the city lawyer?
I have watched this evolve over the past six years.
Given the rules stated in SPR/19-2081 (November 15, 2019, attached) the public's right to know is paramount.
I demand those documents that I have requested,
Respectfully,
Joe Viglione
