June 26, 2024

 

Good afternoon,

 

The Office of the State Comptroller (OSC) received your OPRA request on
June 17, 2024. The seven-day business day deadline to respond to your
request is June 27, 2023.  This response is being provided to you on June
26, 2024.

 

Your request sought access to the following documents pursuant to OPRA and
under the common law: “1) [A]ll correspondence sent from anyone in the NJ
COMPTROLLER'S OFFICE (Kevin Walsh is the Acting State Comptroller) to the
Wall BOE including but not limited to James Habel, Jack Hahn, Brian Smyth,
Tracy Handerhan, Cheryl Dyer, Christine Steitz (Wall BOE President), Ralph
Addonizio (Prior Wall BOE President), Michael Gross, Doug Kovats
requesting information from the Wall BOE[;]  2) [A]ll correspondence with
any and all attachments sent from James Habel, Jack Hahn, Brian Smyth,
Tracy Handerhan, Cheryl Dyer, Athina Cornell, Anthony Sciarrillo, Dennis
McKeever or anyone from the law firm (Sciarrillo, Merlino, Cornell,
McKeever and Osborne) or anyone in the Wall BOE or Michael Gross or Doug
Kovats to the Comptroller's Office as per a written request for
information and documents. Please include a copy of any and all
correspondence sent to them including but not limited to e:mail(s),
letter(s), fax, and names of investigators if a telephone conversation
took place speaking with an investigator and a summary of the
conversation. The timeframe is being January 1, 2011 - June 17, 2024.”

 

OSC is an independent State agency that conducts audits and investigates
government agencies throughout New Jersey. N.J.S.A. 52:15B-8; N.J.S.A.
52:15C-5. OSC’s investigative authority is set forth in N.J.S.A. 52:15B-1
et seq. Pursuant to N.J.S.A. 52:15B-7, OSC has “establish[ed] a full-time
program of investigation, to receive and investigate complaints concerning
alleged fraud, waste, abuse or mismanagement of State funds, designed to
provide increased accountability, integrity and oversight of every public
entity recipient of State funds.” N.J.S.A. 52:15B-7. To accomplish these
important governmental oversight goals, OSC is afforded “all powers
necessary to carry out its duties and functions and to fulfill” its
statutory responsibilities, including the power to conduct investigations
and issue subpoenas and the authority to call on any State entity for any
needed information, resources, assistance and cooperation. N.J.S.A.
52:15B-6,-8.

 

Against this backdrop, please be advised that OSC can neither confirm nor
deny the existence of records in response to your OPRA request. See N.
Jersey Media Group, Inc. v. Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office, 447 N.J.
Super. 182 (App. Div. 2016). Furthermore, to the extent any such records
or investigations exist, your request must nevertheless be denied because
such records would be considered advisory, consultative, or deliberative
and exempt from disclosure under OPRA.

 

Please be further advised that your requests must be denied as improper
and overbroad. OPRA does not allow a blanket request for every document a
public agency has on file or a wholesale request for general information.
Gannett N.J. Partners, LP v. Cty. of Middlesex, 379 N.J. Super. 205, 212
(App. Div. 2005); MAG Entm’t, LLC v. Div. of Alcoholic Beverage Control,
375 N.J. Super. 534, 549 (App. Div. 2005); Bent v. Twp. of Stafford Police
Dep’t, 381 N.J. Super. 30, 36-37 (App. Div. 2005); Spectraserv, Inc. v.
Middlesex Cty. Utils. Auth., 416 N.J. Super. 565, 578 (App. Div. 2010);
N.J. Builders Ass’n v. N.J. Council on Affordable Hous., 390 N.J. Super.
166, 178-79 (App. Div. 2007). It also does not contemplate “open-ended
searches of an agency's files” nor is it “intended as a research tool
litigants may use to force government officials to identify and siphon
useful information.” MAG Entertainment, LLC v. Div. of Alcohol Beverage
Control, 375 N.J. Super. 534, 546-49 (App. Div. 2005). “The requestor must
identify the records sought with specificity. The request may not be
a broad, generic description of documents that requires the custodian to
search the agency's files and ‘analyze, compile, and collate’ the
requested information.” Bart v. Passaic Cty. Public Housing Agency, 406
N.J. Super. 445, 451 (App. Div. 2009) (citations omitted); Bent v. Twp. of
Stafford Police Dep't, 381 N.J. Super. 30 (App. Div. 2005)(holding that
OPRA allows requests for specific records, not requests for general
information, data, or statistics). Your requests are overbroad and
improper for the following reasons: it seeks records over a time period of
more than twelve and a half years (January 1, 2011 - June 17, 2024), fails
to identify specific records, fails to identify a subject matter; fails to
identify specific individuals from OSC sending or receiving documents, and
would require the Custodian to conduct research and make determinations as
to whether documents, to the extent any exist, were pursuant to a request
for information.

 

Your requests are also denied for the following additional reasons. 
Requests for correspondence under OPRA must identify the individuals or
accounts to be searched and be confined to a discrete and limited subject
matter. Burke v. Brandes, 429 N.J. Super. 169, 176-78, (App. Div. 2012);
see also Elcavage v. West Milford Twp (Passaic), GRC Complaint No. 2009-08
(April 8, 2010)(stating that a proper request for email correspondence
must contain “(1) the content and/or subject of the e-mail, (2) the
specific date or range of dates during which the e-mail was transmitted or
the emails were transmitted, and (3) a valid e-mail request must identify
the sender and/or the recipient thereof”). Because your requests fail to
identify a subject matter and fail to specifically identify individuals at
OSC who may have sent or received documents, to the extent any exist, they
must be denied.

 

Finally, your requests specifically state that the records you seek would
be from “OSC as per a written request for information and documents.” Such
a request, to the extent any exist, would be improper pursuant to N.J.S.A.
52:15C-14c.  Thus, your requests are denied.

 

You have also requested the above documents under the common law right of
access. That request is denied because OSC’s interests in protecting
confidential documents from disclosure, to the extent any such documents
exist, outweighs your interest in accessing such records.

 

In light of the above, OSC considers its response to this request to be
completed. OSC reserves the right to supplement its bases for denial with
any additional basis for exemption to public access as may hereinafter
also be determined to apply.

 

 

Thank you,

 

Robert Shane

Custodian of Records 

 

 

 

 

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Dear New Jersey State Comptroller's Office,

 

KINDLY RETURN VIA A PDF ONLY and ONLY on OPRA MACHINE Brian Smyth:

 

This is a request for public records made under OPRA and the common law
right of access. I am not required to fill out an official form. Please
acknowledge receipt of this message.

Records requested:

 

1) a copy of all correspondence sent from anyone in the NJ COMPTROLLER'S
OFFICE (Kevin Walsh is the Acting State Comptroller) to the Wall BOE
including but not limited to James Habel, Jack Hahn, Brian Smyth, Tracy
Handerhan, Cheryl Dyer, Christine Steitz (Wall BOE President), Ralph
Addonizio (Prior Wall BOE President), Michael Gross, Doug Kovats
requesting information from the Wall BOE.

 

2) a copy of all correspondence with any and all attachments sent from
James Habel, Jack Hahn, Brian Smyth, Tracy Handerhan, Cheryl Dyer, Athina
Cornell, Anthony Sciarrillo, Dennis McKeever or anyone from the law firm
(Sciarrillo, Merlino, Cornell, McKeever and Osborne) or anyone in the Wall
BOE or Michael Gross or Doug Kovats to the Comptroller's Office as per a
written request for information and documents. Please include a copy of
any and all correspondence sent to them including but not limited to
e:mail(s), letter(s), fax, and names of investigators if a telephone
conversation took place speaking with an investigator and a summary of the
conversation.

 

The timeframe is being January 1, 2011 - June 17, 2024. 

 

Regards,

 

Betsy Cross

 

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