Peter said "Now .... the clerk has several courses of action 
1) he can deliver the records and claim that he is just following orders, 
2) he can refuse to deliver the records claiming that he refuses to release them on moral grounds (yet to be defined). 
3) he could deliver them in hard copy format"

I am surprised that Peter has left out the most obvious course open to any manager (public OR private), which is to resign the position.

Whether there are "moral grounds" is not so obvious, since open government laws have been around for several decades. I take note that no one (County Clerk or "citizenry") had objected to this particular open government law until this particular request was made, so "moral grounds" as an objection seems a little contrived. Most, though not all (e.g., Florida DMV), of the objections to these laws have been based on the resources required to administer them.

And, with respect to Peter's third suggestion, it doesn't work in New York, where the requirement is long established that the records, if in machine-readable form, must be provided in that form, if requested.

Peter also said "In the case of the Putnam County Clerk he is aware that the
newspaper plans on publishing the names even though the citizenry has expressed their outrage at this action."

Well, it's worth pondering which part of "the citizenry" has expressed their outrage. All voters in Putnam County? I am skeptical (I know some personally---their outrage is to the 26 killed next door in Newtown).

And Peter said as well. "However there comes a time and place when maybe civil disobedience is necessary. and yes any refusal on his part will result in his being held accountable for disobeying the law, but sometimes that has to be done to make a point."

What strikes me about this kind of language (not from Peter alone) is how closely it resembles that expressed throughout the US in the decade preceding the Civil War, by both slavery proponents and abolitionists. It is really no longer a form of "civil discourse"; it is a threat, and it is emblematic of the current polarization of the American body politic. Oh, and it really isn't about records management, is it?

Let us all hope it ends more peacefully than in 1860. There have been more than enough deaths lately, both at home and abroad.

Fred
---------------------------------
Frederic J. Grevin
[log in to unmask]
212-312-3903
Vice-President, Records Management
New York City Economic Development Corporation

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