City Denies Records Request Rather than Confuse Public

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The City of Scottsdale, AZ, has come up with what may be the ultimate excuse for refusing to release records to the public – You’d Only Be Confused. “I think the public would be misled, and that’s not the purpose of the public records law,” City Attorney Joseph Bertoldo said. The records at issue are departmental budget requests, which another spokesman called “glorified notes” and Bertoldo said were mere “wish lists.” Earlier, city officials refused to make public plans for a spring training facility for the San Francisco Giants. (1/24/04)