More Whac-a-Mole From Town Spokesperson A.J. Carter

August 21, 2012 11:36 am | Filed under: Investigations,News | Posted by:

We recently published two stories about elected officials being stonewalled in obtaining pertinent financial information in the use of public money.  One was regarding a request made by Councilman Mark Mayoka, the other by Councilman Gene Cook.  Prior to publishing the stories we asked for comments from Town Hall.  As is typical, they simply ignored our requests for information.  After repeated requests for this information, we received a snarky one word response from Town Spokesperson A.J. Carter.  (see the exchange below).

Does A.J. Carter take it upon himself to be evasive in responding to direct questions or is this something he is directed to do?  Residents of the town should be outraged that an elected councilperson should need to FOIL financial information that directly impacts their ability to serve the people of this town.

We encourage all readers to forward us any FOIL requests that have gone unanswered at tips@thehuntingtonian.com.  We intend to publish them and keep an ongoing record. Bear in mind, that A.J. Carter’s position is an appointed one.  Would he be so evasive and comfortable in regularly violating the FOIL Laws if he was elected?

Our request for information:

Do you have any comment regarding the press releases from both Gene Cook
and Mark Mayoka regarding their difficulty in obtaining information from
town departments? Is it typical procedure for an elected official to
need to FOIL for financial information?

Town Spokesperson A.J. Carter’s response:

No

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One Response to More Whac-a-Mole From Town Spokesperson A.J. Carter

  1. FOIL’ing can be tricky. You need to be very careful how you word your question/request. Using the “wrong” word could cause a denial of request.

    If you ask for information that isn’t readily available, you could be denied. If you ask for information that isn’t already in “document” form, you could be denied – they aren’t going to work for you to put together information that isn’t in the form you would like. You would have to ask for it piecemeal in that case – if that’s even available.

    As to your question above to AJ Carter…when you ask a “yes/no” type of question, you’re going to get a “yes/no” answer – especially from our local politicians! Better to have asked “Why did Mayoka and Cook have no response to their requests for town financial information to which they are entitled?” “How many times have Cuthbertson and Berland had to FOIL for information to which they are entitled?”

    My Town Too
    August 24, 2012 9:19 am at 9:19 am

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