Projo 7 to 7 News Blog

By Edward Fitzpatrick
Journal staff writer

PROVIDENCE -- The Judicial Nominating Commission cannot, as a blanket rule, prohibit the public from seeing letters that it receives regarding finalists for state judgeships, Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch's office said today.

But on a case-by-case basis, the commission can withhold all or part of a letter if it contains "personal and medical information," the attorney general's office said in an advisory opinion prepared at the commission's request.

The commission, which interviews candidates and recommends finalists for state judgeships, asked for Lynch's opinion following an inquiry by The Providence Journal, which is seeking access to letters submitted either for or against eight finalists for a Superior Court vacancy.

In the past, the commission has provided The Journal with copies of letters regarding judicial candidates. But Stephen J. Carlotti, who was appointed commission chairman by Governor Carcieri in February 2007, said he would not release such letters when The Journal made an inquiry in June. He then said the commission would seek the attorney general's opinion.

In a letter to Lynch, Carlotti said the commission believed that the letters it receives about judicial candidates "are documents of a nature exempted under the provisions of the [Access to Public Records Act] in that they are part of files maintained as part of the process of 'hiring' judges."

But the attorney general's office disagreed with that interpretation in today's seven-page advisory opinion, which was written by Special Assistant Attorney General Michael W. Field.

"A similar argument was previously reviewed by the Rhode Island Supreme Court, and rejected," Field wrote, citing the high court's 1982 decision in The Rake v. Gorodetsky.

In that case, the Providence Police Department argued that civil complaints made against members of the department could be kept secret because the complaints were personnel records that were placed in personnel files. But the Supreme Court concluded that argument was "of little persuasive value," saying a "governmental agency could label all of its records personnel records, leaving nothing accessible to the public."

"For this reason," Field wrote, "the fact that the JNC may maintain the requested letters in 'personnel files,' or otherwise considers the requested letters part of a candidate's 'personnel file,' holds little weight."

But the Access to Public Records Act does exempt from disclosure "all personal or medical information relating to an individual in any files," Field said.

"Accordingly," he wrote, "the JNC should focus on whether the requested letters contain 'personal or medical information,' rather than whether the requested letters contain 'information in personnel files maintained to hire, evaluate, promote or discipline any employee of a public body."

Field said the attorney general's office has not seen the letters regarding the eight Superior Court finalists, so it cannot determine whether they contain person or medical information. "It suffices to say, however, that this determination must be made on a letter-by-letter basis," he wrote.

 Tags  Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch judgeships Judicial Nominating Commission public records access

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