(Washington, DC) – The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), which has filed a lawsuit to stop the Ground Zero Mosque, says that Mayor Bloomberg’s newly released response to its Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) requests validates the substance of its suit and reveals an inappropriate involvement between the Mayor's Office and developers of the mosque.
"The documents released underscore what we've believed all along - that the Mayor was working behind the scenes - in a secretive manner - to promote and advance a project that offends most New Yorkers and most Americans," said Jay Sekulow, Chief Counsel of the ACLJ. "The fact that the Mayor’s Office waited four-and-a-half months to respond to our FOIL request and then released only a portion of the documents right before Christmas validates the substance of our claim and clearly indicates that the Mayor continues to hide the full nature of his involvement in this process. The documents raise serious questions about the role of the Mayor in this project. This is hardly the end of the FOIL issue. We intend to seek a full disclosure from the Mayor in court shortly after the New Year."
The ACLJ’s lawsuit on behalf of Tim Brown, a firefighter and first responder who survived the Twin Towers’ collapse, alleges that New York City’s Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) acted arbitrarily, abused its discretion, and violated administrative law by allowing political pressures to influence its decision not to landmark a building where the proposed Mosque would be built. The suit was then amended to add Mayor Bloomberg’s Office for failing to respond to the ACLJ’s FOIL request from July 30.
The 21 pages of disclosures released by the Mayor’s Office reveal that City Hall had direct communications with the Mosque’s developers, explicitly tried to assist with the political process, and was involved with discussions between the developers and the Community Board 1. An email from the developers’ attorney, Shelly Friedman, also acknowledged that Robert Tierney, the Chairman of the LPC, was seeking “political cover” from politicians in order not to landmark the building.
The disclosures, however, are perhaps most significant for what they did not provide. The Mayor’s Office claimed two exemptions under the Public Officer’s Law, including one for intra-agency and inter-agency communications. The ACLJ will seek a court order to discover the undisclosed documents.
Led by Chief Counsel Jay Sekulow, the American Center for Law and Justice focuses on constitutional law and is based in Washington, D.C.
http://www.aclj.org/Default.aspx
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