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BNH Appeals Bank Decision
Seeks to discover how SBM and NHSB corporators voted
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Business New Haven
1/5/2004
By: BNH
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Business New Haven has appealed to the state's Freedom of Information Commission a decision by Banking Commissioner John P. Burke to withhold the vote tally by corporators of the Savings Bank of Manchester (SBM) in its conversion from a mutual holding company to a public stock company in 2001.
SBM directors have agreed to the acquisition of their bank's holding company, Connecticut Bankshares, by New Haven Savings Bank, pending approval by state and federal regulators of NHSB's own conversion to a public stock company. Proceeds from a public stock sale would be used by NHSB to acquire both SBM and Tolland Bank.
BNH initially requested the individual SBM vote tally on August 19. The purpose, according to BNH Publisher Mitchell Young, "was to determine whether SBM corporators received any consideration - financial or otherwise - in return for an affirmative vote on the proposed conversion. We also needed to set a precedent for the NHSB corporator's vote. New Haven Savings has also refused to provide the vote of individual corporators'.
In a December 17 letter, Banking Commissioner Burke said his department "had determined not to disclose the vote tally sheet" revealing how individual corporators had voted.
Burke's letter acknowledged that state laws make "all records maintained or kept on file by any public agency...shall be public records," he cited a recent amendment to the statutes that exempts from disclosure "personnel or medical files and similar files the disclosure of which would constitute an invasion of personal privacy [emphasis in original]."
In a formal appeal to the state's Freedom of Information Commission (FOIC), BNH Editor Michael C. Bingham argued that "Revealing the votes of individual corporators in a matter of general public concern does not compromise their "personal" privacy in any manner."
Bingham further asked state FOIC General Counsel Mitchell W. Pearlman "that all possible steps be taken to expedite a decision in this matter. As you know the issue of the conversion of New Haven Savings Bank is a matter of immediate public importance."
At press time the FOIC had not ruled on the appeal request.
In a related matter, the Banking Commission reconvened the public hearing regarding the NHSB conversion at 5 p.m. January 5 at Conte-West Hills Magnet School, 511 Chapel Street, New Haven. The public is invited to comment.
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