What's Doctoroff Saying to City? It's a Secret

Ever since he left the city for Bloomberg LP in January, there's a fair bit of chatter among government and real estate types about former Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff's continued role in the Bloomberg administration—just how much does he say to current city officials, and what is he saying?

The answer to those questions, it turns out, is not public information.

Back in May, we did a Freedom of Information request that normally allows the public access to e-mails and other correspondence between public officials and outside parties. But now the city's counsel has denied our FOIL request, saying that every e-mail we requested (between Mr. Doctoroff and Mayor Bloomberg, Deputy Mayor Robert Lieber, Deputy Mayor Ed Skyler, and a set of other city officials) has been withheld under one of two exemptions: the e-mails represent an invasion of privacy, or are "inter-agency and intra-agency materials."

Mr. Doctoroff still serves as an appointee on a set of governing boards of city- or state-controlled agencies, including the Hudson River Park Trust and Governors Island Development Corporation.

[For more on our failed attempts at gaining info through the Freedom of Information Law, see our post from December.]