Under the New York State Freedom of Information Law (FOIL), which allows the public to request and receive records from the government, agencies are supposed to treat all requests equally. That’s not what’s happening with the state Office of the Attorney General, under AG Tish James, New York’s chief legal officer. A Daily News request was immediately and entirely denied based on claimed exemptions under the law, while an identical request by someone else is promised a full response. That is not right. Two years ago, the Daily News requested from the AG the underlying witness interview memos from the 2021 probe into then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo. As we have previously recounted in this space, we were denied and on appeal told that the documents constituted both attorney work product (which is exempt under the law from disclosure) as well as being confidential and privileged attorney-client communications (which is also exempt). As the appeal denial stated: “The OAG has not waived its privileges with respect to the memos.” Both claims are hollow, as the records are neither attorney work product nor attorney-client communications. Now comes former Cuomo aide Rich Azzopardi making the identical request and getting a different response. Here is our inquiry: “Regarding the OAG Section 63(8) Investigation into Sexual Harassment Allegations Against Former Governor Andrew Cuomo, the Daily News is seeking the unredacted written memorandums prepared by the Special Deputies and Special Assistants to the First Deputy Attorney General for all 179 persons interviewed in the investigation and a list of the names and dates of the interviews.” Here is Azzopardi’s: “Under the provisions of the New York Freedom of Information Law, Article 6 of the Public Officers Law, I hereby request a copy of records or portions thereof pertaining to (or containing the following): The written memorandums prepared by the Special Deputies and Special Assistants to the First Deputy Attorney General for all 179 persons interviewed in the investigation of Gov. Andrew Cuomo.” While we were instantly denied and shut out, Azzopardi was told: “Please be advised that we are diligently engaged in the process of preparing a response to your above-referenced FOIL request. We estimate that this Office will complete this process and have its response to you by Oct. 2, 2024. This additional time is needed for the following reasons: • the volume of records that must be reviewed in order to respond to your request; and • the detailed nature of the review required to respond to your request.” On Oct. 2, the AG informed Azzopardi that they would need until Nov. 13. We were denied again on Sept. 11 and have 30 days to appeal, which we shall do. They are not denying Azzopardi based on attorney work product or attorney-client privilege, but insist to us that those exemptions apply. And whatever they turn over to Azzopardi, they must provide the same to us. In our request, we ask for the “unredacted” memos, but that wasn’t the reason for the immediate denial, as the appeal letter said “were the OAG to disclose the memos, we would perform another round of redactions to prevent an invasion of individuals’ personal privacy” as the law requires. It’s been more than two years since we started asking and we are not giving up.