Just in time for Christmas, an 'immaculate deception' at Rochester City Hall

Rochester City Hall; inset City Attorney Terence O'Rourke (Courtesy; O'Rourke/City of Rochester livestream)

A Right to Know request seeking City of Rochester documents regarding money the city has spent in defense of its policy to refuse The Rochester Voice requests for information because Voice editor Harrison Thorp lives in Maine drew a prompt response from the city attorney.
"He said there are no such documents," State rep and Rochester resident Cliff Newton said earlier this week.
Newton made the Right to Know request after the city had filed an appeal of the RTK Ombudsman's decision in Merrimack Superior Court.
Former mayoral candidate Susan Rice brought the matter up during Tuesday's City Council workshop.
"I know it takes at least $150 to file paperwork," she said. "Was this waived?"
Now the city attorney, Terence O'Rourke, was sitting just feet away from Rice, but he said nothing. He could have just said, "Yeah, it's waived," but he didn't.
But it was waived, Merrimack Superior Court personnel said on Friday.
"It's always waived for municipalities," a court clerk told The Rochester Voice.
Well, you learn something every day. But one thing O'Rourke has never learned during his tenure in Rochester is to be forthright.
So Newton made the Right to Know request for documents on what the city had paid for the appeal, and O'Rourke just says, "Sorry, no documents."
I wasn't there, but he probably had a Cheshire cat grin on his face as he wrote his letter or email or whatever it was he wrote to Newton.
Stunning stuff, for sure.
He could've just told Newton paranthetically that, "Yeah, the filing fee is always waived for cities and towns."
Well, we all know nothing's free, so taxpayers across the state subsidized the city's filing fee.
Of course, it you're a private citizen, it costs some $280 to file and appeal in Merrimack Superior Court, according to the clerk.
But what is more stunning is O'Rourke's deceit by omission. It's like he's trying to give the shaft to the people who paid him $115,330 in salary last year, including $43,775 more in benefits.
Is this what integrity among city officials looks like these days?
If you divide O'Rourke's annual salary in 2022 of $115,330 by 2,080 hours, it looks like he gets paid about $55.45 an hour given he works a standard work week. That's not figuring for vacation and holiday, so he really gets paid much more.
The point is he spent about four hours on the day we had a prehearing at the Ombudsman's office in the State House annex. And he brought his law clerk with him.
But there's no documents on that, either. Probably cause there all on salary.
But like I said, nothing is free.
You gotta give these guys credit. They're pretty slick.
Aren't you glad they're working for you?