By DAN VALENTI

PLANET VALENTI News and Commentary

(FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, TUESDAY, DEC. 23, 2014) — As THE PLANET exclusively revealed yesterday, city solicitor Kathy Degnan was ordered 12 days ago to turn over all responsive documents requested by iBerkshires in connection with the Human Rights Commission‘s handling of allegations of racism made by a black businesswoman against Mayor Dan Bianchi.

Here’s the situation in sum:

1. iBerkshires sought pertinent HRC documents from the city.

2. Degnan denied the request.

3. iBerkshires appealed to the Public Records Division of the Secretary of State’s office.

4. The state found in iBerkshires favor and ordered compliance through the city clerk’s office.

5. Degnan appealed, claiming an exemption for the based on an “ongoing investigation.”

6. The state found no “ongoing investigation” that would compromise release of records.

7. The state ordered Degnan to turn over all responsive records on the HRC.

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That was 12 days ago. THE PLANET contacted iBerkshires‘ editor Tammy Daniels about the situation. Daniels tells us that “[t]he city is releasing the material early next week based on the date of the official snail mail letter giving them 10 days.” Daniels says iBerkshires plans to do a story and that the website “will publish to documents based on what we find and how best to present them.”

Many Questions Abide

This is just the latest in a cascade of actions whereby Degnan has acted as the legal enabler for an Administration bent on stifling the freedom of information so essential for any community to govern itself.

That Degnan would claim an exemption on turning over the document based on a non-existent “ongoing investigation” suggests either someone out-of-touch and grossly misinformed or someone willing to lie to protect the Administration.

Questions abound:

* If Degnan turns over documents, how do we know they are unredacted? How do we know they haven’t been altered? Do we go simply on trust?

* Why is it taking the city so long to comply with the state’s order?

* Is the city solicitor hiding other secrets on behalf of (and/or to protect) the mayor?

* Does Josh Cutler‘s hasty resignation from the Human Rights Commission play into this development and fight over public records? That resignation has never been properly explained.

* Does the HRC have anything to say about this latest controversy?

Transparency Lost

The lack of transparency is perhaps the greatest surprise and disappointment relating to The Bianchi Administration.

Based on his service as a Ward 6 councilor, no one expected such a reticent, recalcitrant performance as the executive. People expected the populist that served the ward and the city so well. That person never showed up, only a “reasonable facsimile thereof,” and that for only five or six months — up until the Spectrum case.

When Spectrum Health Services approached Mayor Jimmy Ruberto to locate a methadone clinic downtown, the mayor infamously threw Spectrum out of his office. When Spectrum promised a fight, Ruberto went to court. Under city attorney Rich Donohey, the city prevailed three times in separate court decisions. It remains an open question whether or not Pittsfield could have ultimately prevailed to keep Spectrum out of the city. There’s no question, though, that with three court victories, Pittsfield was  in a strong position to negotiate terms.

She became the city’s attorney for the Spectrum case in March 2012and promptly handed victory to the company. To make matters worse, she agreed to a $100,000 payment to the company that appeared to be unnecessary and was never properly explained.

Pittsfield not only lost the case but was humiliated.

The question will ring in 2015: Can Pittsfield afford four more years of such “public service?”

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“As virtuous men pass mildly away, / And whisper to their souls to go. / Whilst some of their sad friends do say / The breath goes now, and some say no.” — John Donne, opening stanza, “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning,” (1631).

“OPEN THE WINDOW, AUNT MILLIE.”

LOVE TO ALL.