RFK Jr.’s Falconry Records Still Secret—For Now
As you know, a judge held that former presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.'s claim to be a New York resident was a sham," discounting some compelling circumstantial evidence to the contrary. See Judge Rejects RFK Jr.'s Claim to Be New York Resident, Despite Valid State Falconry License" (Aug. 16, 2024). That knocked Kennedy off the New York ballot. He appealed, but dropped out of the race a week later. But if he thought that was going to put this issue to rest, he had another think coming. See RFK Jr. Expected to End Campaign After Questions Raised About Falconry License" (Aug. 22, 2024).
As I mentioned at that time, I filed a Freedom of Information Law request with the state seeking records that might prove once and for all whether Kennedy had been honest with the court when citing this evidence in support of his claim. Yesterday I got the following response (emphases added):
RE: PUBLIC RECORDS REQUEST of 8/22/2024, Reference # W135463-082224
Date:09/05/2024Dear Kevin Underhill,
In response to your 8/22/2024 Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request, seeking:
(1) Records showing that Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., has applied for, sought to renew, or possessed a New York state falconry license at any time after 2013, including but not limited to copies of any annual New York state falconry reports he has filed since 2013.
(2) Records showing that Mr. Kennedy has applied for or possessed a New York hunting license (resident or non-resident) during the same time period.
Copies of the licenses and/or reports themselves, if any, would be sufficient.
Be advised that your request has been denied in accordance with one or more provisions of the Public Officers Law (POL).
Your FOIL request for sporting license holder or game harvest report information for specific individuals, or for a list thereof, is denied, as disclosure of such records would constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy (Public Officers Law (POL) 89.2(b).) Further, disclosure could endanger the life or safety of any person (POL 87.2(f).)See also Goyer v. DEC, 12 Misc. 3d 261, 813 N.Y.S.2d 628 (Sup. Ct., Albany Cty., 2005).A FOIL request may be resubmitted for consideration if the requester provides: (1) a subpoena ordering the disclosure of such information (typically related to litigation or an investigation); or (2) a waiver or other legal document authorizing the disclosure of such information to the requesting party that has been executed by the individual that is the subject of the request.
If you believe you have been unlawfully denied access to records, you have the right to appeal.Any such appeal must be submitted in writing and within thirty (30) days of the date of this email.Appeals must be directed to:
FOIL Appeals Officer
Office of General Counsel
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
625 Broadway, 14th Floor
Albany, NY 12233-1500Your FOIL request is now closed.Please reference FOIL #W135463-082224 in all future correspondence concerning this request. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Records Access
I will have more to say about this, of course, but I wanted to update you on this important development as soon as possible.
For now let me just say that it did not occur to me that by seeking falconry records I might somehow be endangering the life or safety of any person, much less a presidential candidate. I understand that disclosing someone's home address might pose a danger in some situations, if it's a real home address and not a fake one as a court has found Kennedy's New York address to be. Hard to endanger someone who isn't there. (The claimed address is already public anyway because of the lawsuit.) But an annual falconry report, at least, does not contain that information or anything else that seems at all dangerous. Yet the state refused to produce even that. So, that particular FOIL request may now be closed (to be fair, it was probably too broad), but as far as I'm concerned the issue remains open.
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