List of press contacts, preferably as a spreadsheet
Dear Senate Republican Office,
Please accept this electronic request for public records made under OPRA and the common law right of access. I am not required to fill out an official form or use a particular software platform to submit my request per NJSA 47:1A-6(f), which states that an email from a requestor including all of the information required on the adopted form shall suffice in place of a completed form as a valid government record request.
I HAVE NOT been convicted of any indictable offense under the laws of New Jersey, any other state, or the United States.
I WILL NOT use the requested government records for a commercial purpose.
I AM NOT seeking records in connection with a legal proceeding.
Records requested:
Please provide the most recent and most complete list of active press contacts, preferably as a spreadsheet with reporter names, email, affiliation, phone. Thank you kindly.
My preferred delivery method for response(s) to this request is by E-mail as attachments. Please confirm you have received this request. If you are not the custodian of records, please forward my request to that person and provide their email address to me for future reference.
Yours faithfully,
David Sarokin
Dear Mr. Sarokin,
In response to your request submitted to the New Jersey Senate Republican
Office pursuant to the Open Public Records Act (OPRA), N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1 et
seq., please accept this email on behalf of the Records Custodian.
Your OPRA request sought access to the following:
the most recent and most complete list of active press contacts,
preferably as a spreadsheet with reporter names, email, affiliation,
phone.
Please be advised, the Senate Republican Office does not maintain a
government record of the content and form you have described and,
therefore, this office does not have any records responsive to your
request.
In addition, please note that the information you have requested is not
subject to disclosure under OPRA as it does not seek specifically
“identifiable government records.” See MAG Entertainment, LLC v.
Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control, 375 N.J. Super. 534 (App. Div.
2005). Instead, your inquiry requests information, rather than records,
and it further requests that the Senate Republican Office locate,
organize, and compile such information in a specified manner. Your
request is therefore invalid for being overly broad and failing to seek
identifiable government records. See Matthews v. City of Atlantic City
(Atlantic), GRC Complaint No. 2008-123 (February 2009) (OPRA does not
require a custodian to create new documents in response to a request.).
Furthermore, to the extent any of the information you are seeking may in
fact be contained in any government record, OPRA provides that:
A custodian shall not be required to complete a request . . . if the
custodian determines that the request would require research and the
collection of information from the contents of government records and the
creation of new government records setting forth that research and
information. N.J.S.A. 47:1A-5.g.
Moreover, please note that, under OPRA, certain enumerated types of
information are explicitly excluded from the definition of a government
record and are accordingly deemed confidential, including:
(1) any memorandum, correspondence, notes, report or other communication
prepared by, or for, the specific use of a member of the Legislature in
the course of the member’s official duties. . . . N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1.1.
(2) information received by a member of the Legislature from a constituent
or information held by a member of the Legislature concerning a
constituent, including but not limited to information in written form or
contained in any e-mail or computer database. . . . Id.
A “constituent” is defined by OPRA as “any State resident or other person
communicating with a member of the Legislature.” Id.
Any government record containing the information you are seeking, even if
sufficiently identified, would likely be covered by these exemptions, or
perhaps other exemptions, and therefore not subject to public disclosure
under OPRA.
Nothing in this letter shall be construed as a waiver of any rights,
privileges, immunities, or defenses available to this office or any member
of the Senate under OPRA or any other law.
Thank you for contacting the New Jersey Senate Republican Office.
Sincerely,
Sarah Haag
Deputy Counsel
New Jersey Senate Republican Office
Office: 609-847-3600
Fax: 609-984-8148
[1][email address]
[2]www.senatenj.com
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