# Laura Gilson General Counsel of the Arkansas Public Employees Retirement System (APERS). Office at 124 W Capitol Ave Ste 400, Little Rock AR 72201. Phone: (501) 682-7853. Email: [email protected]. The seed-list incorrectly identifies Laura Gilson as the "ASPRS contact." The APERS R1 production establishes she is APERS's General Counsel. Her email signature in the 12/10/2024 Mryyan FOIA correspondence reads: "LAURA GILSON / GENERAL COUNSEL / 124 W Capitol Ave Ste 400 Little Rock AR 72201 / Phone: (501) 682-7853 Website: www.apers.org". She is APERS's principal FOIA-handling officer (functionally equivalent to a Public Information Officer for FOIA purposes) and serves as legal counsel. Gilson handled APERS's FOIA-side response to the Badria Mryyan 12/10/2024 submission. At 10:28 AM Gilson issued an initial denial citing the Arkansas-citizenship requirement under McBurney v. Young 133 S.Ct. 1709 (2013): "In response to your email dated December 10, 2024, requesting materials from APERS pursuant to the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act ('FOIA'), A.C.A. 25-19-101, et seq., absent proof of Arkansas citizenship per McBurney v. Young 133 S.Ct. 1709 (2013), we are unable to fulfill your request." When Mryyan provided proof of Arkansas voter registration at 10:36 AM, Gilson forwarded the request to Borromeo at 10:39 AM with: "We have to respond to his request unless it fits an exemption in FOIA. Please let me know. I can usually ask and receive an extension from the requester to accommodate your extra burden of assembling the information." Borromeo provided the substantive "zero investments" response at 11:30 AM. Gilson received the IFSC packet distribution from Fecher on 5/14/2025 9:14 AM in the corrected staff cc batch. She participated in the 5/19/2025 internal review of Fecher's draft response to John Rollans's APERS FOI request alongside Borromeo, with Allison Woods (also at APERS) added at Fecher's 1:31 PM "Including Allison" message. Borromeo confirmed Fecher's draft Rollans response at 1:49 PM with "You have answered correctly," and Fecher sent the final response to Rollans at 1:51 PM. On 5/28/2025 2:52 PM Borromeo forwarded the 5/14/2025 12:24 PM Borromeo–Stephens "fixed income eyes" Israel Bonds email thread to Gilson and Fecher with the cover line "Laura here is an email string that I sent to Stephes [sic] re: Israel bonds." The forward implies the thread is responsive to a FOIA request in Gilson's queue. ## Evidence > "In response to your email dated December 10, 2024, requesting materials from APERS pursuant to the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act ('FOIA'), A.C.A. 25-19-101, et seq., absent proof of Arkansas citizenship per McBurney v. Young 133 S.Ct. 1709 (2013), we are unable to fulfill your request." > Laura Gilson to Badria Mryyan, IB_FOIA_MAY_25_Reviewed.pdf p.624, 12/10/2024 10:28 AM > "Carlos: See the response below. We have to respond to his request unless it fits an exemption in FOIA. Please let me know. I can usually ask and receive an extension from the requester to accommodate your extra burden of assembling the information." > Laura Gilson to Carlos Borromeo, IB_FOIA_MAY_25_Reviewed.pdf p.623, 12/10/2024 10:39 AM > "LAURA GILSON / GENERAL COUNSEL / 124 W Capitol Ave Ste 400 Little Rock AR 72201 / Phone: (501) 682-7853 Website: www.apers.org" > Gilson email signature, IB_FOIA_MAY_25_Reviewed.pdf p.624, 12/10/2024 ## Cross-References [[amy-fecher]] APERS Executive Director [[carlos-borromeo]] APERS CIO who provides substantive responses to Gilson's FOIA queue [[badria-mryyan]] 12/10/2024 APERS FOIA requester [[apers-foia-r1-7-7-25]] source page ## Auditor R3 3-3-26 production: 7/2/2025 Lenow forward to Fecher The Auditor R3 production at [[auditor-foia-r3-3-3-26]] captures Gilson's 7/2/2025 8:49 AM "See below" forward of Lenow's Arkansas Times APERS-direction inquiry to Amy Fecher. Lenow had sent the inquiry to Gilson at [email protected] at 8:45 AM; Gilson forwarded to Fecher within 4 minutes. Fecher then forwarded to Brady at the Auditor's office at 9:50 AM (cc Spadoni). The 4-minute Gilson-to-Fecher turnaround is consistent with Gilson's role as APERS General Counsel: she received Lenow's reporter inquiry (framed explicitly as press, not FOIA), determined APERS leadership response was Fecher's call, and forwarded without comment. Gilson did not personally respond to Lenow; Fecher took the lead on the APERS press response. Cross-confirms Gilson's documented role at [[apers-foia-r1-7-7-25]] handling Lenow's earlier 5/28/2025 and 7/2/2025 APERS FOIA submissions. Gilson is the routing principal between external FOIA/press inquiries and APERS internal leadership.