NEW SCOTLAND — Clarksville attorney Peter Henner filed suit on Wednesday against the state to release public records from the governor’s Broadband Program Office in time to allow rural areas to meet a March deadline to apply for broadband access, pushed across the state as bringing all regions into the 21st Century.

Henner, who recently fought the closing of the Clarksville post office — and won — on the grounds that access to the service was a responsibility of the “quasi-governmental” entity whether or not it was economically profitable, sees a similar situation with the state’s Broadband for All program, with broadband extensions in rural areas deemed too expensive being cut in favor of updating existing Internet services.

The state’s Urban Development Corporation, called Empire State Development, last month denied Henner’s Freedom of Information request for public records from the Broadband Program Office. Henner on Wednesday filed an Article 78 request to appeal the denial.

According to the state’s website, the Broadband for All program promises high-speed Internet access to every New Yorker by 2018, with a dedicated $500 million to “close the broadband gap.”

“In today’s world, Internet connectivity is no longer a luxury — it is a necessity,” the site states. “Broadband is as vital a resource as running water and electricity to New York’s communities and is absolutely critical to the future of our economy, education, and safety.

“Millions of New Yorkers are either limited to target broadband speeds or have no access to broadband at all, creating a gap in the ability of some communities to participate in the global economy.”

Henner and the not-for-profit organization Alliance for Environmental Renewal, of which he is president, filed suit claiming that the state is backing out of its promises.

Broadband access updated where services already exist, without an extension of access to rural areas, goes against the guidelines put forth by the state, he said.

“Broadband will get faster and faster, and better and better,” Henner said. Rural communities “are going to get nothing, and be excluded from the 21st Century,” he said.

“I want to make a push for everybody,” Henner said. “Diverting it to people who already have it is wrong, insulting, and hypocritical.”

“You can fight the government,” Henner told The Enterprise. “I believe we’re clearly in the right. Hopefully, the judge will agree with us.”

Henner filed the suit, he said, to tell Governor Andrew Cuomo, “Your Broadband for All is a fraud.” 

“The Alliance believes that the BPO’s intended methodology for the expenditure of the $500 million violates the intended legislative purpose of providing broadband access for communities that do not presently have it,” Henner’s suit states. “The Alliance believes that the BPO’s planned receipt of proposals and possible award of money pursuant to the guidelines that it has promulgated may be illegal and may be the subject of a legal challenge under…state finance law. Even if the BPO’s plans do not constitute an improper expenditure of appropriated funds, they must still be subject to timely public scrutiny, for, among other possible purposes, enabling the [New York State] Legislature to take appropriate corrective action.”

Henner told The Enterprise that the state has a pattern of irresponsibility with respect for information requests.

“I’m trying to hold them responsible,” he said. 

Had records been made available quickly, Henner said, others in the state would have been able to “challenge the guidelines that have been promulgated.”