California transparency headlines
From Sunshine Review
This article is a list of transparency related news from California.
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| Report It • | The Good • | The Bad • | The Ugly | |
The Investigation the County Doesn't Want You to See
"At some point in 2007, a whistleblower at California Children's Services, a program run by the county of San Diego that provides wheelchairs and other medical devices to children with physical disabilities, filed a complaint with the county alleging improprieties within the program.
The county launched a widespread investigation into the allegations that continued for at least 13 months in 2007 and 2008, records show. The investigation led to disciplinary action against county employees and changes to the county's ethics policies, but the report the investigators produced, and all the information it contains, is being kept a secret."
Legal entanglements between East Palo Alto, Page Mill worsen
"East Palo Alto's biggest landlord has filed another lawsuit against the city, adding to the ongoing legal entanglement between the two over rent hikes.
In the suit filed Jan. 6 in San Mateo County Superior Court, Woodland Park Management LLC, Page Mill Properties' management company, alleges that East Palo Alto officials refused to hand over public documents related to a peer review of the city's rent control system.
The city of Berkeley, whose own rent control ordinance was the model for East Palo Alto's, completed the review last year."
Board takes over security of its meetings
"Orange County supervisors voted unanimously on Tuesday to seize back control of security at their meetings after deputies swarmed the boardroom earlier this month, intimidating gun activists from speaking out against Sheriff Sandra Hutchens’ new concealed weapons policy.
“It is to assert our authority that we’re ultimately in charge of security,” said County Supervisor Chris Norby, who sponsored changes to the board’s meeting rules along with County Supervisor Janet Nguyen.
The controversy over boardroom security stems from a Jan. 13 board of supervisors meeting where gun activists were confronted by placards at the board meeting warning people against bringing firearms into the building. In addition, numerous SWAT deputies and plain clothes officers were in the audience and questioned three activists."
Sheriff's officials' texts show combative view toward gun activists
"Transcripts of text messages sent by Orange County sheriff's officials during a November 2008 Board of Supervisors meeting shows the law enforcement leaders used their cell phones to ridicule activists and even supervisors during a public hearing on gun permit policies.
The messages, obtained under a public records request by a group named Ordinary California Citizens Concerned With Safety, reveal a combative tone by sheriff's command staff toward the activists. Some county supervisors questioned whether that defensiveness triggered the large security presence that met activists when they returned to a January meeting seeking to again criticize Sheriff Sandra Hutchens' gun policies."
Court: Coroner Reports Exempt Under Public Records Act
"Coroner and autopsy reports from suspected homicide deaths are exempt from disclosure under California’s Public Records Act, the Third District Court of Appeal ruled yesterday.
Reasoning that the reports present a concrete and definite prospect of criminal law enforcement proceedings, the court rejected a former-California-attorney-turned-publisher’s request for records relating to a Sacramento woman whose bullet-riddled body was found in an open El Dorado County field in 1971.
Phillip Arthur Thompson was convicted in 2008 of the murder of Elizabeth Cloer after a 2003 analysis of DNA left at the scene tied him to the crime."
Some autopsies can be kept secret, court says
"In a ruling that alarmed some open-government advocates, a state appeals court said counties can withhold autopsies and other coroner's reports from the public if they are part of a criminal investigation likely to lead to prosecution.
The decision by the Third District Court of Appeal in Sacramento is the first in California to exempt any category of coroner's reports from disclosure under the state Public Records Act, which makes most state and local government documents accessible."
UC-Berkeley admits to misleading public
- See also: California state budget
"How did Linda Morris Williams get a $100,202 buyout for leaving her $200,400-a-year headquarters job in Oakland and "starting her new job paying the same salary in the office of UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert Birgeneau" the next day. The case has provoked considerable controversy and criticism. The San Francisco Chronicle filed a CPRA request which led to the disclosure of e-mails between the parties involved that Williams "had been virtually assured by Birgeneau's close aides that the job was hers and was even placed on a UC Berkeley organizational chart five days before she applied for the buyout" contrary to earlier claims that Williams was unaware of the possibility of future employment at the Berkeley campus. In her new job, Williams oversees whistleblowing."
Tax dollars to lobby for more government
California taxpayer-funded lobbying associations
"An expose in the Sacramento Bee shows that Los Angeles County spent $3.7 million from 2007-2008 to employ eight lobbyists and to contract separately with five lobbying firms to influence the California legislature."
Our View: Open records crucial to accountability
"Media are sometimes criticized by the public for going after government to obtain records that show what that government is doing for the public it serves. It's difficult for reporters and editors to understand that criticism; after all, the information is supposed to be public, and available to the taxpayers the government works for. At the risk of seeming unduly humble, media does what it does for you - the readers and taxpayers. A recent report from the Los Angeles Times is a prime example of why persistence is necessary.
According to the report, the Immigration Justice Clinic at Cardozo School of Law had to sue to get access to arrest data and internal memos from Immigration and Customs Enforcement about arrests of illegal immigrants over the past several years. After a court ruled in Cardozo's favor, the documents were released. A look at what they contain reveals why ICE wasn't in any hurry to provide them."
Government info: You bought it, you should be able to see it
"In this era of ever- increasing government secrecy, it's nice to be able to celebrate a victory for the public's right to know.
So lift your glass -- or your coffee mug -- and join me in toasting the California First Amendment Coalition's successful court fight on your behalf.
The victory came 10 days ago when a California appeals court affirmed the public's right of access to a government mapping database."
