Saratoga Springs Mayor Ron Kim routinely acts impulsively, often not checking the facts before speaking. This post gives examples of two recent incidents of Ron Kim’s continuing intemperate behavior.
Mayor Kim’s Abusive Telephone Call
Following Mayor Kim’s notorious, well-publicized, epithet-laden rant at Public Safety Commissioner James Montagnino in May in city hall, the Mayor followed up with a phone call to Montagnino and continued his abusive language. Montagnino recorded the conversation. Mike Brandi, city Republican chair, successfully FOILed for it. Here is the recording of the conversation.
Warning to readers: this audio contains foul language.
Kim told the media that Montagnino violated city regulations by recording their conversation.
Neither Kim nor the media cited what regulation may have been violated. I searched the city’s website and could find no such regulation.
Kim Denies Reality
Recently, a citizen named Sam Brewer wrote to Mayor Kim asserting that it had been illegal for the city to have released the applications from people seeking the job that were posted on this blog.
Kim responded to Brewer by falsely declaring that the city never released this information in response to a FOIL request and that he had initiated an investigation as to “how and why these were released to a party outside of city hall.”
The problem is that it is a simple, easily verifiable fact that he is wrong when he claims the city did not release the documents to me through a FOIL request.
The following is the cover letter releasing the documents to me per FOIL.
One would think that the appropriate thing to have done in response to Mr. Brewer’s letter would have been for Kim to first determine if the city had indeed provided the documents under FOIL. The office that handles FOIL requests reports to Kim. He could easily have called the office to check before he replied to Brewer. He also could have checked my post because the post contained a link to the entire FOIL correspondence.
Regrettably, his assertion is part of an established pattern. Mayor Kim routinely acts impulsively rather than taking the time to check the public record. This reckless behavior is deeply worrisome. One has to wonder what ill advised actions with serious consequences he has carried out without the benefit of the facts.
Mayor Ron Kim’s Email To Sam Brewer
From: “Ron Kim” <ron.kim@saratoga-springs.org>
To: “S3 Operations” <S3ops@outlook.com>
Cc: “Minita Sanghvi” <minita.sanghvi@saratoga-springs.org>, “James Montagnino” <james.montagnino@saratoga-springs.org>, “Dillon Moran” <dillon.moran@saratoga-springs.org>, “Jason Golub” <jason.golub@saratoga-springs.org>, “Tara N Gaston” <TNGaston@saratogacountyny.gov>, “mveitch” <mveitch@saratogacountyny.gov>, “Tony Izzo” <tony.izzo@saratoga-springs.org>
Sent: Monday, September 11, 2023 11:28:08 AM
Subject: Re: FOIL and Privacy Act – Legal Issue
The City did not release these resumes pursuant to a FOIL request and is currently reviewing how and why they were released to a party outside City Hall.
Ron Kim, Mayor
City Hall, 474 Broadway, Saratoga Springs, NY 12866
EML: Ron.Kim@saratoga-springs.org
Email From Sam Brewer To Mayor Kim
On Sep 10, 2023, at 9:47 AM, Sam Brewer <*****@outlook.com> wrote:
CAUTION: This email originated outside of the City network. Please contact IT Support if you need assistance determining if it’s a threat before opening attachments or clicking any links.
Council,
I hope you have enjoyed the summer. I monitor the local news and I noticed a post on the blog of John Kaufman whereby he specifically criticized an applicant and posted the resumes of applicants to a civil service position within the City.
I was shocked to see that the city released individual resumes with its response to a FOIL request.
Specifically, personnel files are normally excluded from FOIL requests as the public does not have the right to know certain information. A resume becomes part of an HR file once someone is hired; I think this would be covered under any FOIL exclusions. It is certainly covered by the Privacy Act of 1974, which should be applied via an interpretation of the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution even if not explicit in NYS Municipal or other law.
In any case, no one has the right to interfere with a hiring process for a specific position or person in this way and I hope the city takes action to revise its policy associated with data release in relation to FOIL. While he may publicly criticize the Mayor, having the public evaluate resumes is a gross intrusion on personal privacy and the actual hiring process.
In addition, publishing information about Ms. Munger and her past career experiences may put her at risk. She may not be required or allowed to list details of certain career experiences, and people like Mr. Kaufman may actually target individuals like her because she is on a list maintained by a group that likes to keep people like her out of government and out of work.
Thank you for reading.
Sam Brewer
Saratoga Springs Politics 
As I have said before, I might have excused Ron Kim’s emotional state had his family actually been threatened. However, I have never seen any evidence of a threat to either Ron or his family. The only released evidence of a contact between the person who supposedly was posing a threat and Ron Kim was an e mail in which that person told Ron that he should resign and that it would be better for Ron in the long term if he did. If there is clear evidence of a threat (which we have not seen), the police should take action. If not, Ron should first apologize to the person who sent that e mail (whose name was publicly announced during Ron’s hallway temper tantrum), then to the Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner of Public Safety who were subjected to Ron’s abusive behavior and finally to the entire Saratoga Springs community.
Ron Kim is not the first Council member to have been told by a someone that they should resign. John Tighe demanded my resignation many times when I was serving on the Council. I never equated those attacks as threats to myself or to my family.
Chris Mathiesen
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“…may actually target individuals like her because she is on a list maintained by a group that likes to keep people like her out of government and out of work.”
What does that mean?
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To the Public:
Since emails to city hall from me are being FOILed by multiple parties, I will make a statement here.
There are several issues at hand. I have never threatened the Mayor or his family. I emailed the mayor advising that he resign and I publicly called for his resignation at one or two city council meetings. I have never called or left a voicemail with any demands. The mayor uses the plural pronoun ‘they’ when describing a threat. This can indicate a mental condition or some kind of duress. Earlier this week I requested the Mayor prepare an apology to me for this false statement.
Ron Kim should resign for the following reasons:
1) Inability to keep order at city council meetings, thus putting city personnel and the public at risk.
2) His rush to create a homeless task force and to expand city-funded contracts in a hasty manner.
3) His apparent impotence with regard to maintaining civil order.
4) His evident mental or duress condition.
Now, John Kaufman and the city releasing resumes of applicants to open positions is another issue. First, John Kaufman, from my observation at two city council meetings, does not like Ms. Jenn Dunn. Perhaps there is a political problem, a personality conflict, or maybe even some ethnic/religious difference. I do not know. It was clear to me they do not like each other from body language.
The city should not have released resumes to a FOIL request and John Kaufman should not have published them.
And Ron Kim should not be Mayor.
Sam Brewer
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The city is required to release resumes under the public officers law. They can redact some information but the committee on open government is clear that the public has an interest in the resumes of successful and unsuccessful candidates. This is all available on the COOG website with a little bit of effort to research the advisory opinions.
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Perhaps Mr. Brewer can clarify.
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Kim looks to be wrong about the FOIL issue, which is no surprise to anyone else who has seen how unfit he is for the job, but why are we taking anything Sam Brewer says at face value? Despite wordy emails and responses to this blog, to my knowledge he is not a lawyer or civil service expert, nor is he an expert at reading body language, diagnosing anyone’s mental capacity, or homelessness policy.
His line “may actually target individuals like her because she is on a list maintained by a group that likes to keep people like her out of government and out of work” sounds more like someone who believes conspiracy theories than someone positively engaging local government.
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Okay, Artemis2525, I reviewed this document from the committee on open government:
Click to access foil-law-text-05232023.pdf
I did a keyword search for ‘resume’ and nothing came up. I did not see a reference to the release of information during the process of hiring candidates. It could be true that resumes may be evaluated by the public after hiring has occurred after being sanitized of personally identifiable information, but that is not what happened here. I would think the release of applications during a civil service hiring process that personally identify the applicants and post resumes to be a gross violation of personal privacy.
https://www.justice.gov/oip/blog/foia-update-oip-guidance-privacy-protection-considerations
In general, it is always preferable to consult federal legal resources or guidance as often times this guidance is more restrictive than lower-echelon laws and regulations.
Maybe I will FOIL the city for the SAT reading scores of all the FOIL officers to see if they can comprehend what they are reading and interpreting. Is that a violation of privacy?
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