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SAA Statement Regarding Giuliani Records



Society of American Archivists' statement before NY City Council's Committee
on Government Operations on the matter of Rudolph Giuliani's mayoral
records, February 20, 2002

Presented by Thomas Connors for SAA.

My name is Thomas Connors and I am speaking as a member of the national
governing Council of the Society of American Archivists.

The Society of American Archivists is the oldest and largest national
professional organization of archivists in North America.  SAA serves the
educational and informational needs of more than 3600 archivists and
provides leadership to ensure the identification of, the preservation of and
access to records of historical importance.

On behalf of the Society of American Archivists I thank you for providing
the opportunity to present our national association's point of view on the
matter of the disposition of the mayoral records of Mr. Rudolph Giuliani.

SAA is interested in this issue because we think that Mr. Giuliani's
decision to by-pass the Department of Records and Information Services sends
the wrong message to government officials not only in New York but across
America-that message being that it is perfectly reasonable and ethical to
treat public records as private property.  The records under scrutiny here
were created during Mr. Giuliani's tenure as mayor of New York City and are
therefore public records.

By transferring his documentary record as a public servant to a private
entity, the Giuliani Center for Public Affairs, he effectively removes his
actions as mayor from the scrutiny of members of the public who wish to
learn how, why and when certain decisions were made in order to assess
specific Giuliani-era policies as well as his overall performance as the
mayor of perhaps the most vital of American cities.  The supposed inability
of the municipal archives to handle the Giuliani papers has been cited as
one reason for this act of privatization.  A better approach, one supported
by archivists and historians alike, would be to provide DORIS with the
funding it needs to process the materials in a timely fashion and to
properly manage them over time.

What particularly concerns the Society of American Archivists is that Mr.
Giuliani's action is taking place against a national backdrop wherein other
government officials are attempting to create barriers to access to public
information.  As an example of this I cite President Bush's Executive Order
13233 which places ultimate responsibility for decisions regarding access to
presidential papers with President Bush as opposed to the Archivist of the
U.S., whose jurisdiction in this regard follows from the Presidential
Records Act of 1978.  I can also cite U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft's
October 2001 memorandum to federal agencies informing them that should they
decide to deny FOIA requests, the Department of Justice will back them up.
For other examples of government hostility to free and open access to
information, I refer you to New York Times reporter David Rosenbaum's
February 3rd article "When Government Doesn't Tell" and Alison Cowan's more
recent Times piece "Battling Over Records of Bush's Governorship." (February
11, 2002)

In a December 2001 Washington Post op-ed piece on Executive Order 13233, SAA
president Steven L. Hensen asked the question "How can a democratic people
have confidence in elected officials who hide the records of their actions
from public view?"  I would rephrase the question to ask: How can the people
of New York City have confidence in elected officials who decide to
privatize their records thus removing them from public review?

In September 2001 the people and institutions of the City of New York were
attacked by the forces of global terror.  The world has applauded as New
Yorkers, individually and through their institutions, have come together to
rebuild and recover from that terrible body blow.  Mr. Giuliani's actions
regarding his archives seems to run counter to this spirit of coming
together.  This is a time when New York's public institutions need to be
strengthened, not weakened.

This is also a time when the institutions of American freedom, especially
those institutions associated with freedom of information, need to be
strengthened, not weakened.  The Society of American Archivists encourages
you to act to revoke Mr. Giuliani's disposition of his mayoral records and
return them to City custody.

Thank you.

--------------------------

Susan E. Fox, CAE
Executive Director
Society of American Archivists
527 S. Wells St., 5th Floor
Chicago, IL  60607
312-922-0140
fax:  312-347-1452
sfox@archivists.org
www.archivists.org

The mission of the Society of American Archivists is to serve the
educational and informational needs of our members and to provide leadership
to ensure the identification, preservation, and use of the nation's historic
record.

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