Thomas Menino goes fishing?
Rivals hit with mystery requests
By Richard Weir
March 11, 2009
A stealthy Washington, D.C.-based firm conducting what appears to be oppositional research has slapped mayoral candidates Michael Flaherty and Sam Yoon with public records requests for all recommendation letters they’ve written for applicants of city and state jobs.
Mayor Thomas M. Menino did not receive a similar Freedom of Information Act request, said his spokeswoman, Dot Joyce, who would neither confirm nor deny whether the mayor hired the outfit. Menino has not announced yet whether he will seek a fifth four-year term.
“The mayor has been solely focused on the budget and the issues facing the city,” Joyce said, adding that the mayor has recently received many other FOIA requests, including one seeking copies of all of his press releases since he took office in 1993.
The requests that Flaherty and Yoon received last month were faxed to their City Hall offices by “FOIA & PRA Services,” which describes itself as a “Public Records Retrieval Firm.” They were signed by an employee who used only his first name, “Scott.”
Reached by phone yesterday, a representative of the firm who identified himself as Scott hung up on a reporter.
Phone and e-mail messages left by the Herald were not returned. Staff for both councilors said their calls also were not returned.
“We have nothing to hide,” Jon Romano, Flaherty’s campaign spokesman, said yesterday. “That information is required by law (to be released) to the public and we are happy to share it.”
Romano said Flaherty’s campaign will be conducting oppositional research on his rivals but he said the councilor did not hire FOIA & PRA Services.
Yoon spokesman Jim Spencer said the firm’s search will not turn up any improprieties. “Sam doesn’t work political favors. We will be glad to fulfill it,” he said, adding that it’s “kind of irritating” because the councilor’s staff is small.
“They get taken off (answering constituent concerns) by whoever this request is from. We don’t even know who the firm is.”
