Kelo New London Update: Day Editorial — Follow the Law, Make Terms Public

An editorial this morning in The New London Day makes what would be obvious points to people interested in following the law.

But New London’s City Council and The New London Development Corporation (NLDC) have spent nearly a decade stretching the law to its limits, culminating in conning a 5-4 majority of the Supreme Court into buying their “public purpose vs. public use” eminent domain argument (despite sparing ONLY the high-powered, politically-connected Italian Dramatic Club from eminent domain). So it’s hard to imagine that Council and the NLDC give a rip about complying with state disclosure laws by revealing the terms of the four settlements entered into with Kelo holdouts during the week leading up to the June 5 eviction meeting.

Nevertheless, The Day makes its points well (requires registration after one day and a paid subscription after one week):

The city, the City Council and the New London Development Corp. have chosen to flout the state Freedom of Information law by keeping secret the settlement terms with four Fort Trumbull tenants. So, apparently, has Gov. M. Jodi Rell’s office.

The reason is obvious. The city doesn’t want other tenants who have not settled to know the exact details of the agreements with those who have come to terms. So, to justify its ends, it has given a creative interpretation to the state FOI law.

City Attorney Thomas J. Londregan argues that the terms should be kept secret because they amount to “pending litigation,” an exemption from the FOI law under the state statute. He bases that opinion on the fact that the four plaintiffs have not yet withdrawn their legal appeals of the assessments of their properties.

But Colleen Murphy, executive director of the state Freedom of Information Commission, disagrees. The facts suggest she’s right.

If the plaintiffs have agreed to the city’s terms for settling the property disputes, it’s clear they will withdraw the litigation, whether a fait accompli or not. The city isn’t going to meet the terms of the settlements until the four do exactly that.

So attorney Londregan is stretching a point to try to get his arms around an FOI exemption that is made moot by the fact that the parties have agreed to settle.

Gov. Rell’s office, which is anxious to move the Fort Trumbull project along and make political points with both sides — the city and the plaintiffs who settle and their supporters — takes a cop-out by saying the legal documents regarding the settlement are not yet in the hands of mediator Robert Albright.

The governor, should she want to follow state law, could be telling New London to make the settlement terms public.

….. The city is trying to be practical to protect its negotiating options, but it is also disobeying state law. A push from Gov. Rell’s office would be in order, but, unfortunately, that does not seem to be forthcoming.

Perhaps Rell is holding back on the Freedom of Information issue as a negotiating club, i.e., “Given Kelo and Cristafaro their titles, or I’ll force you to reveal the terms first.” Since Council and the NLDC still think they will either get settlements or take the properties, they might give in if the details of the past week’s settlements make them look like goons. If so, that would compromise their negotiating position with Kelo and Cristafaro irretrievably, and give them an even blacker public-relations eye than they already have. Sure, the previous settlement info would still be released if they gave back the titles, but the news would be so totally focused on the titles that the settlements would be virtually ignored.

If the Governor is indeed thinking this way, it might ordinarily be seen as a questionable tactic — except for the fact that she’s dealing with very questionable people.