Bill would ban destroying constituent files

ALBANY - Assemb. Dean Murray (R-East Patchogue) says that when he walked into his district office for the first time, he discovered empty file cabinets, a fax machine minus a toner cartridge and a printer lacking a drum and rollers.

He's not the only lawmaker who can tell the same tale. At a news conference Wednesday at the Capitol, more than a dozen lawmakers said his or her predecessor had destroyed or removed constituent casework files - files that contain information about, say, a resident's fight to get insurance coverage or clear up a state Department of Motor Vehicles issue - leaving the newcomer to start from scratch.

Assemb. Philip Boyle (R-Bay Shore) led the lawmakers in proposing a new law that would make it a misdemeanor to shred such files, punishable by up to 1 year in jail and up to a $25,000 fine.

"What happens in an ugly election, one incumbent loses and he or she is ticked off and they destroy all the casework as political payback" said Boyle, who added that he has a Senate sponsor. "A couple of weeks later . . . [the new officeholder] starts getting phone calls from a Ms. Smith trying to help get insurance coverage for her husband. . . . And these things need to start all over again."

Assemb. Alfred Graf (R-Holbrook), who defeated Democrat Ginny Fields (D-Oakdale) in November, said, "When I went to my office, there were no files, nothing on the computer. I'm sure we'll recover from it. But I don't want a constituent going without medicine or going without heat because of political wrangling."

In response, Fields said there were no outstanding constituent issues when she left office earlier this month. "When I left I destroyed all the papers because the cases were all resolved," she said.

Murray replaced Democrat Patricia Eddington - who resigned after being elected Brookhaven town clerk - by winning a special election last February. He described the scene when he moved in: "Files gone, papers shredded, paper out of the copy machine, no toner cartridges in the fax machine . . . the mail had been forwarded," Murray said.

He said three community groups have been contacting him about grants they applied for before he took office, but his office had no references. "It's been very frustrating," Murray said.

But Eddington said she closed all her open cases before leaving the Assembly last January, then kept the files for six months in case Murray had questions. He never called, she said, so the files were destroyed. "Let's face it," she said. "This is a year later. This is nonsense."