Agency policies and interactions with county party committee officials (Joint Commission on Public Ethics)

To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the New York Freedom of Information Law, I hereby request the following records:

This request is two-fold: first, a request for records generally pertaining to your agency's interactions with the leadership of county party committees; and second, a request for records specifically pertaining to the leadership at the Kings County Democratic County Committee (KCDCC).

This request is being sent in duplicate to the New York City Conflict of Interest Board (NYC COIB) and Board of Elections (NYC BOE) as well as the New York State Joint Commission on Public Ethics (NYS JCOPE) and Board of Elections (NYS BOE). Where references are made to "your agency" this is the receiving record custodian's agency.

This request is occasioned by the election of Carlo Scissura in the position of Chairperson of the County Committee and Rodneyse Bichotte as Chairperson of the Executive Committee of Kings County Democratic County Committee, replacing Joseph Bova and Frank Seddio in these respective positions (see attached PDF's for narratives in the NY Post and Brooklyn Paper). Upon information and belief, these two positions split a variety of responsibilities defined in a variety of laws (e.g., Election Law, Public Officer Law and the New York City Administrative Code) that either trigger regulated by your agency, or which include official duties representing KCDCC to your agency.

(Please note "Chairperson" is the form used in the KCDCC Rules; however, the forms "Chairman" or "Chair" may be used interchangeably.)

Details regarding the first request (records generally pertaining to your agency's interactions with the leadership of county party committees):

I request any record held by your agency that addresses how either your agency or a party committee should process a change of leadership, especially viz. compliance with applicable law (e.g., Public Officers Law, Election Law, New York City Administrative Code, etc.).

Records should be considered responsive regardless of format. Records should be considered responsive regardless of whether they address outgoing or incoming leadership (e.g., when compliance ends for a resigning official or begins for an incoming official). Records should be considered responsive regardless of the author, e.g., whether they are produced by the agency, its counsel or by a superior bureaucracy.

Details regarding the second request (request for records specifically pertaining to the leadership at the Kings County Democratic County Committee (KCDCC)):

I request records dated between August 2019 and July 2020 where they indicate, describe, or respond to a change in the person(s) holding Kings County Democratic County Committee's leadership position(s) of Chairperson of the Executive Committee and/or Chairperson of the County Committee.

Dates for requested records is post-dated to July 2020 as due-date for financial declarations to JCOPE and COIB is in May (with release embargoed to July). Your agency should close the request upon the sooner of the two: return of a responsive record or the end of July 2020.

Records should be considered responsive so long as they fit the description. Responsive records may include records authored by the agency or correspondence received by the agency; records regarding either or both of the outgoing officials (Seddio and Bova) and either or both of the incoming officials (Bichotte and Scissura); and may include communications through channels both formal (e.g., official memoranda) or informal (e.g., an email announcing resignations of outgoing officials and/or election of incoming officials).

The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.

In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 5 business days, as the statute requires.

Sincerely,

T. McElwee