Part 13: The Wine Wars: Who’s Paying the Piper?

The financial relationship between Collins and Williams over the years is significant, as I imagine are the town’s growing legal bills around FOIL requests.

I wonder at times what happens when a person is elected to office and reason seems to fly out the window. I suppose it’s that same mental switch that allows them to think that if they ignore something or fight against it long enough, it means either it never happened or it’s settled business. We’ve seen it with the Epstein Files, and in Chatham this seems to be the strategy with FOIL requests.

Today the town reached out, as they did over a week ago, to tell me...wait for it...nothing. Not a denial and not the files I asked for in my FOIL request. The emails follow this article.

I was not surprised. After all, this is the strategy that the board is on the record talking about this past January related to another FOIL request. The plan (and a Band-Aid solution at best): delay.

This is not going to land well in the 12037, well, at least for those who are bothered by the town’s legal meter ticking with more unnecessary FOIL-related costs. Just last week in the town board meeting, the costs, …