Uniontown attorney’s open records appeal denied
The state Office of Open Records has denied the appeal of Uniontown attorney recently terminated from the Fayette County Public Defender’s office, who is now seeking information from county officials regarding employment practices.
In a letter jointly addressed to Thomas W. Shaffer, who maintains a private practice on Pittsburgh Street, and the county’s Chief Clerk and Open Records Officer Amy Revak, the state Office of Open Records (OOR) denied Shaffer’s appeal on the same day it was received — Thursday — because the appeal was not timely filed.
Shaffer was terminated from the public defender’s office on July 26. Although the commissioners declined to comment on the reason for Shaffer’s termination, Shaffer has said the decision followed an incident in Magisterial District Judge Haggerty’s office in June in which Shaffer openly objected to what he called Haggerty’s “pro-prosecution” bias.
Shaffer wrote to the OOR seeking information from an April 2012 county salary board meeting in which he said he had asked the commissioners about the pay disparity between public defenders and district attorneys, locally and in comparison with surrounding counties.
Shaffer also indicated in the letter to the OOR that he had requested information in writing from county human resources director Dominick Carnicella, regarding the manner in which public defenders’ work hours were determined in the process of classifying their salary rates.
The letter to Carnicella, which was dated Oct. 15, went unanswered, according to Shaffer.
In its denial letter, the OOR explained that Shaffer had 15 days from when he was denied his record request to file an appeal.
According to the OOR website, an agency that receives a right-to-know request has five days to respond to it or ask for an extension, and in the absence of a response, the request is deemed denied.
The OOR pointed out that Shaffer’s initial request to Carnicella was nearly a year ago, and long considered denied.
Although Shaffer, in each of the letters he wrote seeking information, stated he was making the requests pursuant to the Right to Know Act, Revak said she never formally received any right-to-know requests from Shaffer. She said the county’s website provides a form which can be downloaded, filled out and submitted to her office, but she received no such requests, nor was she forwarded any of the letters Shaffer sent individually to Carnicella, the salary board nor Haggerty.
The OOR’s denial referenced only the Oct. 15 letter to Carnicella, but it did not address other requests Shaffer made in recent weeks that may still fall within the 15-day appeal period, such as a letter to the county salary board dated Aug. 27 asking for information about any action taken following a request he made to move a salary board meeting to avoid conflicting with criminal court week. Shaffer also asked Magisterial District Judge Ronald Haggerty for calendar information from several dates from the first half of this year, in a letter also dated Aug. 27.
The OOR’s letter stated that Shaffer has 30 days to appeal the denial, and such an appeal must be filed in Fayette County Court.