Paul Wolf, president emeritus of the New York State Coalition on Open Government, recently offered the organization’s annual “Naughty and Nice List” on government transparency

The New York State Coalition on Open Government released its Naughty and Nice list Dec. 18, in its annual holiday season attempt to highlight failures in government transparency.

Paul Wolf, president emeritus of the organization, offered a presentation online about the list. He said Democrats and Republicans in governments across New York State “are equally bad” when it comes to openness in their dealings.

No one from Chautauqua County made either the Naughty or the Nice list this year — but plenty of people and places did in Western New York overall.

The Town of Evans in southern Erie County made the list. Wolf alleged the town secretly settled a defamation lawsuit filed by a former town supervisor. “It never appeared on a meeting agenda, it was never voted on,” he said.

Buffalo was on the list for long-term difficulty in getting responses to document requests under the Freedom of Information Law (FOIL). Niagara Falls Mayor Robert Restaino also made the list over FOIL requests. Restaino reportedly has declared he will ignore FOILs from a newspaper whose coverage he does not like. It’s his third time on the Naughty and Nice list in its four years of existence.

FOIL requests also got Erie County Sheriff John Garcia onto the Naughty list. He was sued over failure to comply with the law; Wolf stated “there were a lot of issues on requests” from local media about information pertaining to an Erie County Sheriff’s Department employee’s alleged drunk driving accident.

Wolf said State Sen. Patrick Gallivan hit the Naughty list for introducing a bill that would require a court’s approval for access to police records. Wolf said the state’s top court ruled that the public is entitled to such records.

The final Naughty lister with Western New York connections is its most powerful: Gov. Kathy Hochul.

“When she became governor, she promised a new era of transparency. That hasn’t happened,” Wolf said. “She talks a lot… but when she acts, she does the opposite.” Hochul has vetoed two FOIL reform bills, he said.

“Not much good has come from Gov. Hochul in regards to open government,” Wolf said.

Fredonia Mayor Michael Ferguson was on the 2024 Naughty list for placing restrictions on public speaking at village meetings. He didn’t make it this year. The others on the 2025 list were:

— Saratoga Springs Commissioner Dillon Moran, the first government official in New York State ever charged and convicted of violating a freedom of government information law. He was found guilty of obstruction of access to records. Those are only violations, and he was fined, receiving no jail time or probation.

— The Town of Hempstead. It was held in contempt of court for releasing only 17 of a requested 3,000 emails.

— The Oswego County Legislature, for taking public comments after meetings. “A real slap in the face to the public, very different from how most places handle it,” Wolf said.

— The Syracuse Common Council, which refused to release a draft budget and held discussions about the city spending plan in executive session. “The public should have the right to see and hear public discussion on budgets,” Wolf said.

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As for the Nice listers, they make it for advancing openness in government. The only one with a local connection was Erie County Legislator Lindsay Lorigo, who introduced a Meetings Transparency Law and got it passed. Erie County commissions and boards weren’t bothering to post their minutes and meeting notices — but that is now required under Lorigo’s law.

The list also included attorney Mike Brandi, who studied the law to find a section under which Moran could be charged for his withholding of records. Wolf, a lawyer, admitted Brandi had found a law section that worked, where he hadn’t.

The New York Civil Liberties Union appeared on the Nice list for its years of litigation leading to the court decision ruling that police records are open to FOIL requests.

The remaining Nice list members:

— Troy Councilman Ryan Brosnan cast a deciding vote to allow video conference meetings with public participation.

— East Ramapo School District board member Moses Koth repeatedly voiced concerns about documents not getting posted on time for meetings.

— USA Today’s Beryl Liston led a team working with police disciplinary reviews, an effort related to the court case opening police records.

— James Russell sued the Town of Mount Pleasant for denial of his FOIL request, and won. The town is appealing, however.

— Oswego County Legislator Frank Castiglia for general advocacy of government transparency throughout his career. He voted against conducting the public comments at the end of meetings. Castiglia slammed his fellow legislators: “At the end of meetings, if they don’t like who gets up to speak, they walk out. That’s very disgraceful.”

— The Canton town board refused to let a county legislator join their executive sessions. The legislator was essentially calling for joint executive sessions of two legislative bodies, which is not legal.

— The Reclaim the Records organization is working to open up genealogical records that should be in the public domain, but are restricted by governments.