Title: CAMPAIGN MEMO FROM ROBIN SWANSON, COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR FOR THE CHRIS KELLY FOR ATTORNEY GENERAL CAMPAIGN

Author: Guest Authors

Date: March 12, 2010 7:54:52 PM or Fri, 12 March 2010 19:54:52

Summary: 

RE:                  AIN’T NO SUNSHINE WHEN SHE’S DISTRICT ATTORNEY

This week the San Francisco Bay Guardian ran a piece “Some teeth for the sunshine law” urging the city’s elected leaders to start enforcing the law passed by the city’s residents to require prompt and open disclosure of public records.  But as the Guardian points out – the city’s leaders, including District Attorney Kamala Harris, have failed to enforce the law.

That’s consistent with what we’ve learned here at the Chris Kelly for Attorney General Campaign. Through our own repeated public record requests, Harris has demonstrated that she not only fails to enforce the Sunshine Law, but she even refuses to abide by the spirit of the Sunshine Law herself. 

The Guardian pointed out:

“On paper, it makes San Francisco a shining example of how concerned residents can come together and eliminate secrecy at City Hall.”

Body: 

RE:                  AIN’T NO SUNSHINE WHEN SHE’S DISTRICT ATTORNEY

This week the San Francisco Bay Guardian ran a piece “Some teeth for the sunshine law” urging the city’s elected leaders to start enforcing the law passed by the city’s residents to require prompt and open disclosure of public records.  But as the Guardian points out – the city’s leaders, including District Attorney Kamala Harris, have failed to enforce the law.

That’s consistent with what we’ve learned here at the Chris Kelly for Attorney General Campaign. Through our own repeated public record requests, Harris has demonstrated that she not only fails to enforce the Sunshine Law, but she even refuses to abide by the spirit of the Sunshine Law herself. 

The Guardian pointed out:

“On paper, it makes San Francisco a shining example of how concerned residents can come together and eliminate secrecy at City Hall.”
“But 17 years after its passage, it's still not working. That's because city officials routinely ignore the law — and the city attorney, the district attorney, and the Ethics Commission have utterly failed to enforce it.”
“Not once in the history of the ordinance has the Ethics Commission actually filed misconduct charges. Not once. Violating the Sunshine Ordinance is a crime, but D.A. Kamala Harris has never once prosecuted a miscreant.”

Earlier this week, Democratic Attorney General candidate Chris Kelly called upon San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris to stop her bureaucratic stone-walling of an open-record request made nearly 12 weeks ago seeking basic information on her tenure as District Attorney.
But nearly three months after the request, Harris continues to refuse to provide information on criminal cases handled by her office – despite follow-up requests made under the California Public Records Act and San Francisco Sunshine Ordinance.  Instead, her office has provided a series of bureaucratic responses - parsing the public records requests, refusing to release the information or acknowledging that they can’t seem to find it.

In one instance, Harris’ office even replied: “Neither the Public Records Act nor the Sunshine Ordinance require the department to reply to interrogatories.”  (“Interrogatory,” of course, is a fancy name for “question.”  Asking questions is at the heart of an open records law, isn’t it?) 

Not exactly the model for transparency, we’d like to know what Kamala Harris is trying to hide.   But rather than abiding by and upholding the City’s Sunshine Ordinance, Harris would rather keep us all in the dark…
For copies of the letters of correspondence between the Kelly campaign and Kamala Harris' office, please contact Robin Swanson at (916) 443-1486.

To learn more about Chris Kelly’s candidacy, please visit: www.kelly2010.com or www.facebook.com/chriskelly.

Notes: 

More fields may be available via dynamicdata ..

There are no comments attached to this item.

Ratings