OpenCommonwealth

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OpenCommonwealth

Dedicated to opening up government transparency in Massachusetts
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OpenCommonwealth.org is a free, open and public journalistic community organization designed specifically to provide and empower citizen oversight of governmental operations and activities, help citizens understand how, why and where taxpayer dollars are expended, and to investigate, gather and report the facts in the online publications found on the webpages and social media accounts of OpenCommo

nwealth.org. OpenCommonwealth.org is a free service, is staffed only by volunteers, and all costs and expenses are borne by its creators. No person has ever paid OpenCommonwealth.org any monies, or any in-kind contributions for its reporting, or access to any of its files. It is the structural intent of OpenCommonwealth.org to maintain and persist as an absolutely free service to the entire public. Since its inception, OpenCommonwealth.org has been viewed by over 130,000 visitors between the website and social media, and has had over 20,000 external visitors view and/or download records from our free and publicly available records repository. Currently OpenCommonwealth.org has over a 1.5 Terabytes of publicly available content published.

09/05/2024

https://opencommonwealth.org/massachusetts-supervisor-of-records-order/

Massachusetts Supervisor of Records Order:

"Consequently, the City must clarify whether additional records exist from [a named individual] who appears to have created public records on a private Gmail account."

This determination solidifies that public records created or received by a public/municipal employee on a private system must be in the custody of the agency/municipality and must be available to the public.

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09/01/2024

08/26/2024

Malden's highest Officials do not have City issued Cell Phones, How do they communicate?

The City of Malden recently released the list of all Cellular phones and numbers owned or leased by the City. The following people are obviously and very conspicuously missing:

The Mayor
Most of the Mayor's Staff
Most of the City Council
Most of the School Committee
Most Board Members
Most Committee Members

Every record that is made or received by a government entity or employee is presumed to be a public record unless a specific statutory exemption permits or requires it to be withheld in whole or in part.

How is this even possible?

All the records including the request and response can be found here:

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/s5pfp6eke5uykgu1o87dy/AJEOTU1cZprr1YR65Cl7ExU?rlkey=luwm2hynmhhtwueva9hls87ty&st=88cxbr1a&dl=0

08/14/2024

Malden asks AGO for mediation in OML case

https://opencommonwealth.org/malden-asks-ago-for-mediation-in-oml-case/

08/03/2024

The records of OpenCommonwealth are again making news.

07/31/2024

July 31, 2024:

OpenCommonwealth brings suit against the Malden Community Fund, Inc.

https://opencommonwealth.org/opencommonwealth-brings-suit-against-the-malden-community-fund-inc/

OpenCommonwealth brings suit against the Malden Community Fund, Inc. and all three of its Directors, individually, for failure to produce public records and failure to respond to an Order of the Supervisor of Public Records.

All Case Documents as filed can be found here:

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/zdsta9dm843cqzm1od8u2/AKyER1FDAkXOxsB0PFrVWyE?rlkey=umb5zk0hs0vkxqx2pp84fl61k&dl=0

07/10/2024

What is Malden Hiding? And Why?

07/09/2024

https://opencommonwealth.org/malden-provides-some-of-the-emails-with-the-massachusetts-gaming-commission/

Malden Provides SOME of the emails with The Massachusetts Gaming Commission.

All of the documents released so far can be found here:
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/igs2tn0tqdk1eakzqm7qn/AOgTO2IZ3rvWRyCiHcZph6c?rlkey=aka1sfu0lz1090ub1yogr375e&dl=0

The Casino money files can be found here:
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/xser1qkxy5aw2lk8n4cz3/AL6ePzQFqY2MxNxQu2bLKSg?rlkey=xue0ls115qbo8d6w9zq26i7t0&dl=0

City of Malden (Official)

07/03/2024

Records Eeeewwww! - Casino Money Emails PLEASE READ!

https://opencommonwealth.org/public-records-eeeewwww-casino-money-emails-please-read/

07/02/2024

https://opencommonwealth.org/public-records-eeeewwww-casino-money-emails-please-read/

Eeeewwww!

Casino Money Emails PLEASE READ!

https://dropbox.com/scl/fi/7bpk32pkp26jygkfu410m/All-Emails.pdf?rlkey=vlw2fymolkp9fl0i85sp49kcf&dl=0

The City of Malden has finally released some of the documents regarding the Casino money from Encore, and its not becoming for a public entity…

OpenCommonwealth requested records back in May which Malden said were not in the possession or under the control of the City of Malden. Most of the records provided today were responsive… Here is our latest appeal:

https://dropbox.com/scl/fo/60o9sgzk5y5j72fxnifx0/AEU8jZhwnIbj675GeBp1O1U?rlkey=jza5lx5v0qiuijwgff67naeur&dl=0

All of the Malden Casino Money files can be found here:

https://dropbox.com/scl/fo/xser1qkxy5aw2lk8n4cz3/AL6ePzQFqY2MxNxQu2bLKSg?rlkey=xue0ls115qbo8d6w9zq26i7t0&dl=0

City of Malden (Official)

06/26/2024

https://opencommonwealth.org/some-of-the-malden-city-council-get-it-and-others/

Some of the Malden City Council Get it, and others…

If you want to see and hear it for yourself, the video below provides the whole meeting and his comments are at 01:52:49.22 into the meeting.

OpenCommonwealth commends both the Council President and the City Solicitor for understanding and contemplating the Open Meeting Law, Councillor Spadafora, clearly has not learned what the law is.

City of Malden (Official)

Craig Spadafora Councilor - at- Large, Malden

06/25/2024

opencommonwealth.org/publicrecords-another-817-antonietta-toni-mertz-emails-another-120-00/

Another 817 Antonietta “Toni” Mertz Emails, another $120.00

OpenCommonwealth wants to know why Toni Mertz has BOTH a Malden Public Schools email account and a City of Malden email account. She is the ONLY Assistant Superintendent with both, she was never and is not a City employee. The City reports that she has “Over 49,000 Emails” in her City Email. The Schools also report that she has tens of thousands of emails… Why?

City of Malden (Official)

Malden Public Schools

06/23/2024

https://opencommonwealth.org/should-malden-public-schools-continue-to-use-nrt-to-transport-our-most-vulnerable-students/

Should Malden Public Schools continue to use NRT to transport our most vulnerable students?

Very recently released public records raise serious questions and concerns.

All of the files can be found here at our dropbox: https://dropbox.com/scl/fo/cn2gsr4syimr1gse5zpn4/AEk4ooP8HhgcGe7ZDJezl3o?rlkey=w2d3k5qy2cci1f1yrgjy4izmy&dl=0

Malden Public Schools

City of Malden (Official)

06/23/2024

https://opencommonwealth.org/publicrecords-malden-promises-2669-emails-charges-1062-for-them-and-produces-only-263/

Malden promises 2669 emails, charges $1062 for them and produces only 263.

OpenCommonwealth has appealed the response to the SPR:

All of the files can be found here at our dropbox: https://dropbox.com/scl/fo/cn2gsr4syimr1gse5zpn4/AEk4ooP8HhgcGe7ZDJezl3o?rlkey=w2d3k5qy2cci1f1yrgjy4izmy&dl=0

City of Malden (Official)

Christenson for Mayor

Malden Public Schools

MEA - These records are very interesting...

06/19/2024

https://opencommonwealth.org/will-ligia-noriega-murphy-on-her-last-days-at-malden-public-schools-sign-another-legal-complaint-agains-the-family-of-a-special-needs-child/

Will Ligia Noriega-Murphy on her last days at Malden Public Schools sign another legal complaint against the family of a special needs child?

Malden Public Schools appears poised to sue the family of a Special Needs Student to prevent the release of Public Records.

City of Malden (Official)

Malden Public Schools

06/13/2024

This is how we do math in Malden...

We just ZERO out days we don't like...

https://opencommonwealth.org/this-is-how-we-do-math-in-malden/

City of Malden (Official)

06/13/2024

“It is our position that the records of this organization are not subject to public records laws.” - Maria Luise

https://opencommonwealth.org/malden-massachusetts-gary-christenson-maria-louise-ron-hogan-deb-burke-public-records/

The City of Malden believes this for a non-profit setup by and exclusively run by:
1. Maria Luise – Special Assistant to the Mayor
2. Deborah Burke – Director / Strategic Planning and Community Development for the City
3. Ronald Hogan – Chief Strategy Officer of the City
Funded with at least $400,000.00 of General Funds of the City, Paid to the City by the Encore Casino.

OpenCommonwealth is seeking an Order from the Supervisor of Public Records to Determine that the records requested are Public Records.

City of Malden (Official)

06/11/2024

Where is the money?

06/04/2024

https://opencommonwealth.org/the-public-records-law-says/

The Public Records Law Says…

Custodial Index of Records:
To facilitate closure of this matter and to aid in the cooperation of the parties, I find that the School must provide Mr. Friedman with a custodial index of the records and the basis of the exemption claims for each record or each category of records. Please note that “the Supervisor may require a records access officer or custodian to compile an index of the requested records within the context of a public records appeal under 950 C.M.R. 32.08.” 950 C.M.R. 32.08(5)(a).

950 C.M.R. 32.08(5)(a). – Custodial Indexing of Records.
(a) the Supervisor may require a records access officer or custodian to compile an index of the requested records within the context of a public records appeal under 950 CMR 32.08.
(b) said index shall be a public record and shall meet the following requirements:
1. the index shall be contained in one document, complete in itself;
2. the index shall adequately describe each withheld record or redaction from a released record;
3. the index must state the exemption or exemptions claimed for each withheld record or each redaction of a record; and
4. the descriptions of the withheld material and the exemption or exemptions claimed for the withheld material must be sufficiently specific to permit the Supervisor to make a reasoned judgment as to whether the material is exempt.
(c) nothing in 950 CMR 32.08 shall preclude the Supervisor from employing alternative or supplemental procedures to meet the particular circumstances of each appeal.

City of Malden (Official)

Malden Public Schools

Address

Malden, MA

Website

http://opencommonwealth.org/

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