Pablo Torre will sue UNC if necessary over Bill Belichick, Jordon Hudson public records requests
Pablo Torre of Pablo Torre Finds Out has been finding out plenty about North Carolina coach Bill Belichick and his 24-year-old girlfriend/handler/publicist/idea mill/creative muse Jordon Hudson. And Torre's effort to find out even more could, in theory, result in him getting sued. But it also could result in Torre doing some suing.
During a Tuesday visit to #PFTPM (full interview is here), Torre explained that North Carolina owes by Friday responses to multiple requests for public records relating to the football program. And Torre stands ready to do whatever needs to be done, if UNC fails to comply with its obligations under the applicable laws.
Torre was asked whether he's willing to take North Carolina to court if it fails to comply.
"I plan to hold them to account," Torre said. "These are public records requests. I don't know why this should be vague or ambiguous. If you're listening, like, it's not like, 'Show me your emails,' as if there is no expectation of it. It's, 'You get as part of the pact between a public university and the federal government, you get things in exchange for what feels like a reasonable level of transparency.' So we can tell what is this public money going towards? It's standard operating procedure, and if we don't — if we feel like they are not obliging their legal obligations, we will certainly pursue avenues to make it so."
It's one of the most basic realities of Belichick taking a job with a public institution like North Carolina and not a private university like Duke. Belichick's official records (most notably, emails) become fair game for public inspection. And, to the extent that Hudson was (and perhaps still is) unofficially working for UNC, hers are fair game, too.
Actually, Hudson's status as a non-UNC employee could provide a certain degree of freedom to circumvent the relevant freedom of information laws. Regardless of whether Belichick intentionally used a non-employee to create a public-records buffer, it could be argued that emails she exchanged with, for example, NFL Films over the ill-fated Hard Knocks project can be concealed.
That argument becomes harder to make based on Belichick's effort to blame her de facto P.R. work on the fact that UNC didn't have anyone in that role. And it's moot unless North Carolina stiff arms Torre.
By Friday, UNC will either give Torre what it is required to surrender or Torre will potentially pursue legal action.
Put simply, UNC can eff around, but Torre will still find out.
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