NY State Tax Department worker researched GOP official who filed FOIL request and denies they did so

[jmyrlefuller]

http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypolitics/state-tax-department-worker-researched-gop-official-filed-foil-request-blog-entry-1.1964475?cid=bitly

by Ken Lovett
October 6, 2014

Here is the lead item from my "Albany Insider" column from Monday:

A state tax official conducted a background research on a Republican party official after receiving a public information request, the Daily News has learned.

Without mentioning  his job, Joe Uddo, who is the political director for the state GOP, had filed a “Freedom of Information Law” request on Aug. 22 with the tax department seeking to understand why some taxpayers had been disqualified from a property tax exemption program.

Days before the request was rejected last month, Uddo received a message from the online professional networking site LinkedIn that someone had reviewed his profile, which identified him as a GOP official. That person turned out to be a tax department employee who received Uddo’s freedom of information request.

"FOIL responses are based upon the law, not who requested them," said Tax Department spokesman Geoffrey Gloak. "Anyone suggesting otherwise is wrong on the facts."

(excerpt)