Let The Sun Shine In

The concept behind "sunshine" ordinances is to make sure your government conducts its business is the "light of day." Oakland's "sunshine" ordinance actually contains stricter provisions than state law, supposedly in the interests of more open and more accountable government. Yeah, right.

After weeks of insisting that I am entitled to unredacted versions of three e-mails that I requested as part of a Public Records Act request, the City finally capitulated on one of the e-mails. Here's the sentence that they initially claimed was protected by the "attorney-client privilege."
"Have you received Kevin Siegel, Mark Morodomi or Rocio Fierra's opinions yet?" (the e-mail was from Cheryl Taylor to Gilbert Garcia - they're both budget/finance people in the City; not attorneys; however, the three people mentioned in the e-mail are attorneys).

The attorney-client privilege can legitimately be invoked to prevent disclosure of confidential communications between attorney and client; there is simply no way on earth this sentence could ever be interpreted as being protected by the privilege. I'm glad the City finally turned it over, after my griping about it long enough, but it certainly does not inspire confidence in the City's commitment to "open government."

Oh, and the City Attorney wrote me a long letter defending his office's continued refusal to provide documents requested during the discovery phase of my lawsuit (until I won a discovery motion)- all of which were public records and should have been produced without any hesitation. Again, not consistent with the espoused ideal of "open government."

Anyway, my cynicism not withstanding, another settlement meeting has been scheduled for June 18 - six days after the next hearing, scheduled for June 12.