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Posted on 05/04/2011 8:56:50 PM PDT by smokingfrog
Maintaining the entrenched secrecy of the California Legislature, leaders in the state Senate and Assembly have rejected a joint request by the Bay Area News Group, The Associated Press and the First Amendment Coalition to open the appointment calendars of lawmakers and their key staffers to public view.
The denial, received late last week, reveals that activities remain thickly shrouded inside the state Capitol, where a 2010 series in this newspaper documented just how beholden legislators are to lobbyists and the agendas pushed by campaign contributors.
Responding to multiple requests from the news organizations, the rules committees in both houses said release of the calendars would constitute "an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy" under the terms of the Legislative Open Records Act. That applies even if the legislators themselves want to release the information.
Their refusal places the Legislature at odds with the governor, other state constitutional officers and local elected officials across California, who routinely release appointment calendars so their constituents can see whom they meet and why -- information that gives critical insight into how the public's business is conducted.
Peter Scheer, executive director of the First Amendment Coalition, said the public access denials are so outrageous that his public-interest advocacy group is considering a suit over the Legislature's erroneous interpretation of the law.
"As they interpret it, it might as well be the Legislative Official Secrets Act," Scheer said. "The California Legislature sees itself as holding a specially privileged position in which they're not really accountable to anybody."
As part of a joint project, the Bay Area News Group, which includes this newspaper, the AP and First Amendment Coalition sent 171 separate requests for legislators' calendars.
(Excerpt) Read more at mercurynews.com ...
They want you to bend over without knowing what’s coming.
How about video taping under their desks too? That way, the taxpayers of CA can see their bribes more readily.
This would be a perfect time for Californians to start work on a referendum that would cut the pay for lawmakers by 75% and make them a part-time legislature, only to meet 6 - 8 weeks out of the year.
“Peter Scheer, executive director of the First Amendment Coalition, said the public access denials are so outrageous that his public-interest advocacy group is considering a suit over the Legislature’s erroneous interpretation of the law.”
“ERRONEOUS interpretation of the law”???? I hardly think so - more like “cynical” and “unethical” to my mind.
CONSIDERING a lawsuit????? Why on earth are they NOT go forward with all due speed in that direction? Are they waiting for the CA legislature to take the next logical step on this preposterous path - denying the public access to any information about the bills they are debating? Would that finally tip the scale?
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