Prosecutors gone wild: San Bernardino County edition – San Bernardino Sun https://www.sbsun.com/2018/03/21/prosecutors-gone-wild-san-bernardino-county-edition/[3/22/2018 7:30:28 AM] By JOHN PHILLIPS | PUBLISHED: March 21, 2018 at 7:30 pm | UPDATED: March 21, 2018 at 10:01 pm Photo by Rachel Luna, The Sun/SCNG Developer Jeff Burum, center, and his attorneys Jennifer Keller and Stephen Larson react as Burum is found not guilty of all charges in the Colonies corruption case verdict hearing at San Bernardino Superior Court in San Bernardino. OPINION Prosecutors gone wild: San Bernardino County edition
56
Embed
OPINION Prosecutors gone wild: San Bernardino … · Prosecutors gone wild: San Bernardino County edition – San Bernardino Sun https: ... party beating. Prosecutors gone wild: San
This document is posted to help you gain knowledge. Please leave a comment to let me know what you think about it! Share it to your friends and learn new things together.
Transcript
Prosecutors gone wild: San Bernardino County edition – San Bernardino Sun
By JOHN PHILLIPS |PUBLISHED: March 21, 2018 at 7:30 pm | UPDATED:March 21, 2018 at 10:01 pm
Photo by Rachel Luna, The Sun/SCNGDeveloper Jeff Burum, center, and his attorneys Jennifer Kellerand Stephen Larson react as Burum is found not guilty of allcharges in the Colonies corruption case verdict hearing at SanBernardino Superior Court in San Bernardino.
OPINION
Prosecutors gone wild: San Bernardino Countyedition
John Phillips is a CNN political commentator andcan be heard weekdays at 3 p.m. on “The DriveHome with Jillian Barberie and John Phillips” onKABC/AM 790.
Disneyland raises prices on most tickets and all annual passes
SPONSORED CONTENT
Expert Explains One Concept in 5 Levels ofDifficulty - BlockchainBy Wired
Blockchain, the key technology behind Bitcoin, is a new network thathelps decentralize trade, and allows for more...
Redlands Daily FactsPUBLISHED: March 21, 2018 at 6:02 pm | UPDATED: March 21, 2018 at6:03 pm
Upland residents have two opportunities to hear more
about the city’s proposal to raise water rates.
The city will hold public workshops at 6:30 p.m. April 2
and at 10 a.m. April 7 at City Hall, 460 N. Euclid Ave.,
according to the city’s website.
On April 23, the City Council will consider the proposal
to raise rates by 17 percent beginning May 1, followed by a
9 percent increase in January 2019, a 9 percent increase
in January 2020, a 5 percent increase in January 2021
and a 3 percent increase in 2022.
The proposal also includes a Temporary Demand
Management Surcharge, which would protect the city
from a loss in revenue due to decreased water usage in the
future.
The surcharge, however, would be applied to customers’
water bills only if the state imposes future water use
restrictions or if water usage trends downward and the
city anticipates a decline in revenue.
If approved, the rate adjustments would address
SUBSCRIBE
Get the latest news delivered daily!
Follow Us
SPONSORED CONTENT
LOCAL NEWS
How to share your view on proposed water rate increases in Upland
Obituaries Opinion CannifornianNews Local News Sports Things to do
TRENDING:Vote in Readers Choice contest Teen suicide’s rise Questions after puppy dies on United flight Upland death investigation No more wench auction
Homeowners Born Before 1985Are Getting a Huge RewardIf you own a home, you should read this.Thousands of homeowners did thisyesterday, and banks ...
Arthur, as the mayor pro tem, lead the process.
Mac Arthur declined to discuss the question
because it’s related to the lawsuit with the mayor.
Several other council members said that, if Bailey’s
office were investigated, others involved in the
situation should be investigated as well, including
all council members and the city manager’s office.
“You don’t just investigate one side,” Councilman
Chuck Conder said. “If you’re going to look at one,
you look at us all.”
FROM AROUND THE WEBselected for you by a sponsor
Ryan HagenRyan Hagen covers the city of Riverside for the Southern California Newspaper Group. Since he began coveringInland Empire governments in 2010, he's written about a city entering bankruptcy and exiting bankruptcy; politiciansbeing elected, recalled and arrested; crime; a terrorist attack; fires; ICE; fights to end homelessness; fights over thelocation of speed bumps; and people's best and worst moments. His greatest accomplishment is breaking a coffeeaddiction. His greatest regret is any moment without coffee.
Follow Ryan Hagen @rmhagen
BY MORNINGFINANCECapitol Hill GivesHomeowners 55+ WhoOwe Less Than $625k A
These New CrossoverSUVs Will Take YourBreath Away
Here's why you shouldconsider rolling over your401(k)s with Principal
[Gallery] Wife of TuckerCarlson Breaks SilenceDailySportX
By BEATRIZ E. VALENZUELA | [email protected] | San Bernardino SunMarch 22, 2018 at 6:29 am
Hundreds of law enforcement officers, family members, city leaders and
California Gov. Jerry Brown will be among the mourners expected to gather
today to honor fallen Pomona police Officer Greggory Casillas.
The funeral services will be at 9:30 a.m. at Purpose Church, 601 N. Garey Ave.
in Pomona. The funeral is open to the public. The doors of the church will
open at 8:30 a.m.
Casillas, 25, was fatally shot March 9 while attempting to make contact with a
man who fled police and locked himself in his apartment, authorities said. He
is survived by his wife and their two small children, his parents and two
brothers.
A second officer, Alex Nguyen, was seriously wounded in the shooting. The
Pomona police Officer Greggory Casillas died in the line of duty on Friday, March 9, 2018. (Photocourtesy Pomona Police Department)
MOST POPULAR
SUBSCRIBE
Get the latest news delivered daily!
Follow Us
1 Prosecutors gone wild: San Bernardino County edition
2 Pedestrian fatally struck by vehicle in San Bernardino identified
3 Redlands man accused of killing mother, son in Thanksgiving weekend crash
4 Vandals cause more than $32,000 in damage to Bear Valley Unified school buses
5 Parole hearing set for man who murdered Paula Hernandez in Redlands in 1977
How and why Southern California’s population grew so much in one year
LOCAL NEWS
Hundreds expected to honor fallen Pomona police Officer Greggory Casillas
Obituaries Opinion CannifornianNews Local News Sports Things to do
TRENDING:Vote in Readers Choice Contest Teen suicide’s rise Southern California students walk out Questions after puppy dies on United flight Pirates ride changes
Casillas is survived by wife Claudia, sons Gregorio, 4 years, Mariano, 5
months, father Gregory, mother Marisela and brothers Dominick and Shawn.
The Greggory Casillas Memorial Fund has been established to help the family
pay expenses. Checks may be sent to 2843 Manlove Road, Sacramento, CA
95826.
150 marijuana plants, but nobody home in Phelan warrant searchFontana motorcyclist who died after crash Saturday is identifiedStay away from Lake Mathews, Californians
Recommended by
Fontana man arrested in fatal car-to-car shooting2 wounded in San Bernardino car-to-car shooting[Gallery] A Woman’s Neighbor Kept Blocking Her Driveway, So The Real-Life Hulk Took Action (Scribol)Kidnapper, killer of Long Beach’s 3-week-old Baby Eliza gets 141 years in prison
Recommended by
Join the Conversation
We invite you to use our commenting platform to engage in insightful conversations about issues in our community. Although we do not pre-screen comments, we reserve the rightat all times to remove any information or materials that are unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane, indecent or otherwiseobjectionable to us, and to disclose any information necessary to satisfy the law, regulation, or government request. We might permanently block any user who abuses theseconditions.
If you see comments that you find offensive, please use the “Flag as Inappropriate” feature by hovering over the right side of the post, and pulling down on the arrow that appears.Or, contact our editors by emailing [email protected].
SPONSORED CONTENT
Latest Trending VideosBy Oath Inc.
Providing you the best up to date sports videos
Beatriz E. ValenzuelaBeatriz E. Valenzuela is an award-winning journalist who’s covered breaking news in Southern California since 2006 and has been on the front lines of several national and international newsevents. She’s worked for media outlets serving Southern California readers covering education, local government, entertainment and all things nerd including comic book culture and video games.She’s an amateur obstacle course racer, constant fact-checker, mother of three and lover of all things adorable.
Tags: funeral, Police, Top Stories Breeze, Top Stories IVDB, Top Stories LADN, Top Stories LBPT, Top Stories OCR, Top Stories PE, Top Stories PSN,Top Stories RDF, Top Stories SGVT, Top Stories Sun, Top Stories WDN
Some CSUs have to turn awaythousands of students. Theseproposals may fix thatMarch 21, 2018
Deleting your Facebook account isthe latest viral trendMarch 21, 2018
Become a KPCC Sponsor
LOCAL
Orange County citiesthreaten lawsuits overplanned homeless shelters
File: A homeless shelter in the Antelope Valley. Orange County officials are facing pushback from cities where they hadhoped to cite three temporary shelters. MAYA SUGARMAN/KPCC
Jill Replogle | March 21, 2018
The three cities where Orange County officials want to placetemporary homeless shelters are threatening to sue the countyover the plan.
Irvine officials voted Tuesday night to initiate litigation against the county,
alleging its plan to open a tented homeless shelter for up to 200 people lacks
local permits and violates state environmental law.
“You’re trying to put human beings on land that is contaminated, on land that
doesn’t have running water, doesn’t have sewer services, doesn’t have
electricity,” Irvine Mayor Donald Wagner said. Some of the land, which borders
the Orange County Great Park, was once the El Toro Marine base and is
awaiting industrial cleanup.
Wagner also said the site was far from health care and job placement services
and lacked adequate transportation options. "It's the wrong site," he said.
But Supervisor Andrew Do said county officials carefully considered each
proposed site.
"We looked at a list of our County-owned land and chose the sites that had the
feasibility by way of access and location to provide emergency shelter," he wrote
in a statement.
Huntington Beach and Laguna Niguel, the other two cities where the county
plans to potentially site temporary homeless shelters, also plan to file legal
complaints.
The negative reactions highlight an ongoing spat between the county and cities
about who is responsible for chronic homelessness and what should be done to
resolve it. U.S. District Court Judge David O. Carter, who has taken an
unusually prominent role in trying to find solutions, has chastised the county for
failing to spend money to prevent homelessness.
He has also accused cities of dumping homeless people in central Orange
County and not doing their share to address the problem.
The reactions to the emergency shelter plan were expected by county
supervisors but leave them in a tough spot. The county is under pressure from
Judge Carter to prove it has enough beds and appropriate services to
accommodate some 700 homeless people who were removed from a Santa Ana
River homeless encampment in February.
The judge also announced at a special hearing Saturday that he expects the
county to find shelter for another approximately 200 homeless people currently
sleeping in the Santa Ana Civic Center. He said clearing of that encampment
would begin April 2.
Under a preliminary legal settlement reached in February between the county
and lawyers for the homeless, most of the riverbed evictees are currently living
in motels scattered throughout the area. But time is running out on their 30-day
guaranteed stays. On Thursday, up to 100 people could be asked to move out
of the motels.
Most have been referred to emergency homeless shelters, temporary housing
with mental health services, residential treatment for substance abuse or
recuperative care. But lawyers representing homeless clients have alleged that
some of the placements are inappropriate for disabled individuals, among
others. They’ve also said the county has failed to show it has enough available
shelter beds to accommodate the influx of riverbed evictees.
Irvine Mayor Wagner, who is part of a newly formed, countywide coalition on
homelessness, said the county’s plan for temporary shelters would merely shift
homelessness from central Orange County to Irvine and the other cities.
“Instead of solving anything, they just moved it, and that’s not a solution to the
homeless crisis” he said. Wagner said the county should’ve convened the cities
and private sector to come up with a solution to the lack of shelter space.
Wagner admitted concern that the city’s pushback against the plan would be
perceived as NIMBYism. But he said the city was doing its share to fight
01:01
POWER BLOCK: Donate to KPCC before noon today and help unlock a fundraising free afternoon! GIVE NOW
Huntington Beach officials are pushing back against an Orange County proposal totemporarily house up to 100 homeless people in an emergency shelter on county-owned land in the city.
Huntington Beach City Atty. Michael Gates said the City Council authorized himduring a closed session Monday to take any necessary legal action to prevent thecounty from relocating homeless people to the site of an abandoned landfill onGothard Street near Central Park.
Gates said the former landfill is contaminated with methane, which he contendsmakes it unsuitable for even temporary shelter. He said the situation would amountto a "health and safety catastrophe."
"From what we hear of the proposal, it would be inhumane for the county torelocate up to 100 individuals to create a homeless tent city on that parcel inHuntington Beach," Gates said. "It's right by Central Park. It's right near where kidsplay sports and, more importantly, that piece of property has been known as acontaminated site."
The county Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 on Monday, with Supervisor ToddSpitzer dissenting, to direct county staff to develop three sites for emergency shelteron county-owned land in Irvine, Huntington Beach and Laguna Niguel.
Supervisors indicated that homeless people would be first sent to the site in Irvine,which would have a capacity of 200, then to Huntington Beach and, if more shelteris necessary, to property near City Hall in Laguna Niguel, which could serve up to100 people. The housing would be in tent-like structures.
It isn't clear when the relocation may begin. County staff is expected to take a planto the board April 17.
The action comes on the heels of negotiations in an ongoing civil rights lawsuit filedagainst the county in January by attorney Brooke Weitzman, who represents sevenhomeless people and their advocates, over the clearing of a homeless encampmentalong the Santa Ana River trail.
The suit also sought to prevent the cities of Costa Mesa, Anaheim and Orange fromenforcing laws against camping, trespassing and loitering.
As part of the negotiations, the county last month moved more than 700 homelesspeople from the encampment to various motels in Orange County, including somein Costa Mesa.
Vouchers for the motels expired after 30 days — beginning Friday — promptingadvocates and county officials to try to provide longer-term temporary housing.
After a daylong federal court hearing Saturday, county officials agreed to extendmotel stays on a case-by-case basis.
Fry writes for the Daily Pilot.
Compton mismanaged, overspent taxpayer funds, state audit finds
Weak financial oversight and rampant overspending by the city of Compton turned a general fund surplus of $22.4 million a decade ago into a deficit of $42.7 million just three years later, according to astate audit. Above, Compton City Hall. (Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times)
Compton mismanaged, overspent taxpayer funds, state audit finds
Compton officials overpaid themselves, charged questionable trips on city-issued credit cards and failed to safeguardtaxpayer money, resulting in a staffer stealing millions of dollars over years, according to a state audit.
The city of Compton's weak financial oversight and rampant overspending turned a general fund surplus of $22.4 million adecade ago into a deficit of $42.7 million just three years later. Even after officials adopted a plan to repay the debt in 2014,the deficit increased by $6.4 million the next year.
The California state controller review, released Thursday, found that the city received failing marks in 71 out of the 79measures assessing internal accounting and administrative controls, a score that ranks Compton's accountability as"nonexistent," state Controller Betty Yee said.
"The City Council's brazen overspending contributed to the city's financial hardship," Yee said. "Clearly, the City Councilneeds to right the ship."
In a statement from the city manager's office, Compton officials said they took measures to increase financial oversight andadhere to the debt elimination plan long before the state audit was released.
"It cannot be overstated that Compton is fiscally solvent and is at no risk of a financial breakdown or bankruptcy," cityofficials said.
Fiscal mismanagement is not a new problem in Compton, where former Mayor Omar Bradley was convicted last year ofmisappropriating public funds. Current Mayor Aja Brown took office in 2013 on a good governance platform and vowed tobring financial stability to a municipality that had run through city managers.
PAID POST
5 Ways to Keep Your Data Secure
Cyber risk is everywhere, but the key is managing it.
Though the audit did not single out any officials by name, its publication — just days after Brown announced her ambition torun for Congress — suggests Compton's problems are not entirely behind the city.
Brown said in a statement that fixing nearly three decades of problems "is a process that requires stable leadership, newpolicies, adequate organizational capacity and time."
"Compton is on a firm and definitive path to recovery, which includes a new solid source of annual tax revenue, neweconomic development, new fiscal policies, stable senior management and full city council support — which all occurredunder my administration," she said.
In a response to the audit, City Manager Cecil Rhambo offered a list of new safeguards implemented after a deputy citytreasurer was arrested on suspicion of stealing money from the treasurer's office last year. The employee, Salvador Galvan,was sentenced in November to six and a half years in federal prison for embezzling $3.72 million from 2010 to 2016.
Among the reforms was a move two years ago to ensure the salaries of council members and the mayor do not exceed $600 amonth, as mandated by the city charter. For years, they had boosted their salaries by paying themselves for sitting on boardsand commissions — a long-standing practice the district attorney's office said was illegal. That action brought total salaries ofthe four council members and the mayor from an annual average of $207,000 to about $26,500, according to the audit.
Still, officials upped their pay with monthly car and phone allowances, as well as other unspecified payments, whichincreased their total compensation to more than the amount allowed by the city charter, according to the audit.
The state review, which examined city finances from July 1, 2013, through June 30, 2016, found that Compton has a budget300% higher than the average budget of cities of similar size and population. City officials overspent on events and failed tosend public works projects out for bids. The report found that $51,695 in expenses charged to city-issued credit cards werequestionable because officials did not provide required documentation and justification for the purchases. Some of thosecharges include unexplained trips to Connecticut, Miami, New York, Las Vegas, and Washington, D.C. The charges alsoinclude $1,975 in for unspecified supplies and $1,274 for a camera.
The city failed to conduct meaningful oversight, allowing, in one instance, a single employee to count cash, prepare dailydeposit slips and perform end-of-day reconciliations — duties that should be conducted by different people to prevent theft,the report found. For three years, the city did not compare its bookkeeping records with those of its bank, "an effective tool todetect mistakes, errors and embezzlement." And Compton officials frequently missed financial report deadlines, leaving oneaccounting document past due by 35 months, the audit found.
It was the tardiness of financial reports that triggered the state audit.
Jessica Levinson, an L.A. city ethics commissioner and Loyola Law School professor, said the level of financialmismanagement in Compton does not rise to the level of Bell, a small Southern California city that became a poster child forgraft after city leaders were caught paying themselves outsized salaries. But she said she sees a lot of similarities: failure toadhere to common accounting practices, lack of oversight and excess pay.
"All of this is harming constituents and the people who live in Compton," she said. "Bell is a really high threshold to hit and Idon't think we're quite there, but if they don't do anything the city is going to get closed."
In 2012, Compton was on the brink of bankruptcy and the city's general fund had a $40-million deficit because for yearsofficials used the city's water, sewer and retirement funds when the general fund ran short on cash. Two years later, a think-tank study named Compton the most financially distressed city in the state. Compton officials disputed the claim, saying thefirm that compiled information for the study used outdated reports and secondhand sources.
More recently, Compton has been on the upswing. Crime is down, property values are on the rise, and the city has been ableto attract new development. Brown touted these accomplishments as proof that voters should support her congressional bid.
"Our city is making a strong comeback and I'm proud to have served as a catalyst for real change that my community can seeand feel," Brown said in a statement last week after she launched her campaign to run for the 44th Congressional District,which represents Carson, Compton, Lynwood and several other cities in south Los Angeles County.
But the report found that the city might find itself in real financial trouble if it does not rein in spending and follow thebudget approved by the City Council.
"We hope this is a wake-up call to the residents and businesses of Compton to please pay attention to what your City Councilis doing with your public funds," Yee told The Times.
retrofits required by law in roughly 15,000 buildings.
The city passed an ordinance in 2015 requiring the retrofitting, but the high upfront costs can cause enormous financialstrain on property owners and could prevent its implementation, according to a motion introduced by Councilman MitchellEnglander and approved Monday by the Budget and Finance Committee.
Retrofitting can cost upward of $130,000 for wood-frame buildings and millions of dollars for larger concrete structures. Thecity does have programs that focus on cost recovery for owners, but there are no incentives to provide upfront financialassistance, according to the motion.
When Mayor Eric Garcetti signed the 2015 ordinance into law, it gave Los Angeles the nation's strongest earthquake-safetyrules. The law applies to roughly 15,000 older buildings considered vulnerable in major earthquakes, including 13,500 wood-framed "soft-story'" buildings with weak lower floors, such as multistory apartments with tuck-under parking spaces, and anestimated 1,500 vulnerable concrete buildings.
Under the ordinance, seismic retrofits of wooden structures must occur within seven years, and retrofits of concrete buildingswithin 25 years, with certain benchmarks to be met along the way.
The ordinance targets buildings constructed prior to the enactment of seismic building standards, which include pre-1978soft-story wooden buildings and concrete buildings with permits dating back to before Jan. 13, 1977.
Once the work is complete, an owner can recover 50% of the cost through the city's Seismic Retrofit Program. But if the workcannot be completed within the time frame, the building must be demolished, which could affect the city's effort to maintain
PAID POST
Building Long-Term Retirement Savings Using Annuities:Here’s How
Annuities that offer protection plus potential for growth.
as much of its affordable housing as possible at a time of rising homelessness and spikes in the cost of renting or owning ahome.
A possible source of funding for the program could be the city's Affordable Housing Trust Fund, according to the motion. Thefund has been depleted in recent years by federal cuts, but it could benefit from a windfall by next year as a result of the CityCouncil and Garcetti's signing off late last year on a linkage fee for developers that is predicted to generate about $100million annually for the fund.
BE THE FIRST TO COMMENT
LATEST NEWS
BUSINESS
Bratz dolls maker leads bid to salvage more than half of U.S. Toys R Us stores slated for closure
There are more than 82,000 of them in Los Angeles,
Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties.
That’s the estimated population increase between 2016
and 2017, according to data released Wednesday night,
March 21, by the U.S. Census Bureau.
New homes under construction near Newport Road and Murphy RanchRoad in Menifee are worked on Thursday, February 22, 2018. Moreaffordable housing is one of the main reasons more than 57,000 morepeople are living in Riverside and San Bernardino counties than a yearago, according to census estimates and local experts. (Photo by FrankBellino for The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
SUBSCRIBE
Get the latest news delivered daily!
NEWS
How and why Southern California’s population grew so much in one year
He said that could even affect, for example, Amazon’s
location decision for a second headquarters.
Meanwhile, a major driver of Inland Empire
population growth has been the significant number of
new jobs being created in the two-county region, said
Karthick Ramakrishnan, associate dean for the UC
Riverside School of Public Policy.
“It took a little bit longer than other regions to
rebound from the recession,” he said, but the economy
is strong now.
Ikhrata said international migration has been a strong
factor in Los Angeles and Orange County’s growth in
recent years, and slowing immigration rates are also
partly responsible for slowing growth there.
The coastal counties’ population peak is within sight.
The California Department of Finance predicts that
Los Angeles County will hit a ceiling in 2052 — at
11,279,077 residents — then will start slipping.
Orange County should peak in 2055 at a population of
3,621,879, according to the Finance Department,
whose estimates and methodologies differ from those
of the U.S. Census Bureau.
Riverside and San Bernardino counties are on track to
grow every year through at least 2060, the farthest into
the future that the state forecasts. Riverside County
could start that decade with at least 3.6 million
residents; San Bernardino County, with at least 3.2
million.
David DowneyDave is a general assignment reporter based in Riverside, writing about a wide variety of topics ranging from drones and El Nino to trains and wildfires. He has worked for five newspapers in fourstates: Wyoming, Colorado, Arizona and California. He earned a bachelor's degree in journalism from Colorado State University in 1981. Loves hiking, tennis, baseball, the beach, the Lakers andgolden retrievers. He is from the Denver area.
Follow David Downey @DavidDowneySCNG
Tags: Top Stories Breeze, Top Stories IVDB, Top Stories LADN, Top Stories LBPT, Top Stories OCR, Top Stories PE, Top Stories PSN, Top Stories RDF,Top Stories SGVT, Top Stories Sun, Top Stories WDN
L.A. County Sheriff Jim McDonnell, front left, and L.A. County Dist. Atty. Jackie Lacey have refused to disclose records that are publicunder California law, according to a lawsuit filed this week by the Los Angeles Times. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
L.A. County has repeatedly violated state open records laws, L.A. Times lawsuit alleges
The Los Angeles Times has sued L.A. County, accusing it of repeatedly androutinely flouting laws designed to ensure government transparency.
Over the last year alone, county officials have refused to release information aboutthe status of homicide investigations, allegations of sexual misconduct againstprosecutors and even mundane information such as email addresses for Sheriff'sDepartment employees, the lawsuit says.
County officials also ignored a request for copies of two instruction manualscoaching employees on how to respond to such requests, according to the lawsuit.One of the manuals is titled "California Public Records Act 'Emergency Kit' forCounty Counsel."
The California Public Records Act, like similar laws around the nation, wasdesigned to ensure voters and taxpayers can quickly access the volumes ofdocuments and data generated by public employees every day.
'How many people are being shot?' L.A. sheriff's watchdog decries lack of transparency
APR 29, 2017 | 4:30 AM
With limited exceptions, such laws make information such as city contracts withvendors, local government payrolls and the written correspondences of publicofficials open to inspection. The idea is to ensure transparency, but there is aconstant tension between the public's right to know and government officials'desire to avoid embarrassment, or worse.
"It used to be much more common" for news outlets to sue to force compliance withthe laws, said Peter Scheer, a board member of the First Amendment Coalition,which advocates for open records.
Budget constraints, he noted, have left many media companies reluctant to take onthe expense of a potentially lengthy court fight.
"The largest organizations will still do it, thank goodness," Scheer said.
filed Tuesday, Times attorneys Jeff Glasser and Kelly Aviles accused county officialsof issuing "baseless denials" of requests over the years and attempting to charge"exorbitant fees" when the newspaper requested information that could proveembarrassing — such as emails from top Sheriff's Department officials after it wasdiscovered that one had sent multiple messages mocking Muslims, blacks, Latinosand women from a work account at his previous job.
The result is a "pattern and practice" by the county of denying access to records thatare legally and routinely open to the public, The Times' attorneys argued.
In its petition, The Times asked a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge todeclare that the records in question are public and to order the county officials torelease them immediately. The Times also asked the court to require the county topay the newspaper's legal expenses.
A spokeswoman for L.A. County Dist. Atty. Jackie Lacey declined to comment onthe pending litigation. A spokeswoman for Sheriff Jim McDonnell also did notcomment, for the same reason.
Read the L.A. Times' lawsuit against the county »
Among the records at issue in the suit are files involving prosecutors and otheremployees of the district attorney's office who have been disciplined for sexualharassment or misconduct.
The request for those records, filed Feb. 13 by reporter Marisa Gerber, is timelybecause the district attorney's office is reviewing whether to file charges in high-profile cases of celebrities such as Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, who isaccused of sexual assault and similar misconduct.
Last month, the California Legislature released similar records of 18 cases ofalleged sexual harassment involving lawmakers and their employees. Those casesincluded the sharing of pornography and a staff member accused of grabbing awoman's buttocks and genitals.
The records, which had been shielded for more than a decade in some cases,became public after three months of requests from Times reporters and attorneys.
Two years ago, McDonnell's chief of staff, Tom Angel, resigned after The Timesreported he had forwarded racist and sexist emails from a work account while hehad been second-in-command at the Burbank Police Department.
"I took my Biology exam last Friday," said one of the forwarded emails, which wereobtained under the state's public records act. "I was asked to name two thingscommonly found in cells. Apparently 'Blacks' and 'Mexicans' were NOT the correctanswers."
Angel told The Times he did not mean to embarrass or demean anyone and said itwas unfortunate that his work emails could be obtained by the public under thestate's records laws.
When The Times requested copies of emails Angel and others might have sent fromtheir official Sheriff's Department accounts containing a list of potentially racist orsexist terms, McDonnell was personally involved in deciding how to respond to thenewspaper's request, according to testimony taken in a lawsuit that the paper filedin 2016. The Sheriff's Department hired an outside firm to do the search, whichquoted The Times nearly $7,000 to produce the records, a fee that is more than 10times what the county usually charges, the testimony showed.
A judge is expected to decide next week whether the county's proposed charges areallowable under the public records law.
In the 2016 lawsuit, The Times unsuccessfully attempted to obtain throughdiscovery copies of the two instruction manuals coaching employees on how torespond to public records requests.