Parents targeted in Red Scare, she pushes back

ALBANY -- A writer whose parents were targeted by anti-communist investigators in the New York City school system 57 years ago took her fight to the state's top court yesterday, looking for the records to peel back the veil of secrecy from that chapter in America's Red Scare, including the names of informants.

Lisa Harbatkin's parents were among more than 1,100 teachers investigated from the 1930s to the 1960s. Her father resigned. Her mother told investigators she was no longer a Communist Party member and couldn't recall who was. Now, Harbatkin, who plans to keep writing articles and possibly a book, has asked New York's Court of Appeals to uphold her Freedom of Information Law request to see 140,000 pages of documents with nothing blacked out.

Lower courts upheld the city decision to let Harbatkin see files on her parents, Sidney and Margaret Harbatkin. But, citing privacy concerns, officials offered access to the rest only on the condition she doesn't record or publish names.

The investigations came during an era of renewed fears that communists were infiltrating all walks of American life, concerns that gained the national stage with hearings conducted by U.S. Sen. Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin. Thousands of Americans, including entertainers, teachers, union activists and government employees, were scrutinized and often accused of being communists or sympathizers.

Harbatkin's attorney, Michael Grygiel, argued yesterday that the public interest outweighs privacy issues and the city's restrictions violate her free-speech rights.

"There is no longer any realistic basis for the consideration that the disclosure of the names of the parties or the informants . . . could realistically result in personal hardship," he said.

New York City Assistant Corporation Counsel Elizabeth Freedman countered that people were routinely promised confidentiality when they talked to investigators, and that should continue, even after death. She also said that the city is offering Harbatkin more access than required under the law.

The FBI file on her father, a labor organizer and Communist Party member who subsequently taught at a private school and died in 1960 from a heart condition, also has parts blacked out, including the names of the agents who investigated him, Harbatkin said. The file on her father ultimately notes he was not a security risk.

"He was no threat. They knew it," she said.