Banned Withholdings - Immediate Disclosure Request (SF BoS) - provide responses here
| Submitted | Jan. 10, 2021 |
| Est. Completion | Jan. 21, 2021 |
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Communications
From: twitter.com/journo_anon Public Records Requester
[please provide all responses and records to this email address - they will then be permanently, instantly, and publicly archived on MuckRock.com for the entire public to review.]
Supervisors Catherine Stefani, Aaron Peskin, Gordon Mar, Dean Preston, Matt Haney, Rafael Mandelman, Hillary Ronen, Shamann Walton, Ahsha Safaí, each of your Offices, Clerk Calvillo, and Office of the Clerk:
This request is regarding the normally prohibited justifications that the Mayor purported to allow supposedly for COVID reasons, but I believe were done solely to hide the Mayor's records.
It's possible that you have not used any of the Mayor's "special" COVID justifications, so your response will be simply "no records".
Please read SF Admin Code 67.26 and 67.27 carefully before you respond - make sure you provide to me a specific legal citation for every redaction (with a key) and for every record fully withheld. Please provide rolling responses. Ensure you meet the 10-day CPRA deadline for responding with justifications, even if it takes longer to produce the records during COVID.
As you are aware I will pursue every violation of the CPRA or Sunshine Ordinance by every public official.
I have never yet needed to bring a complaint against a Supervisor or the Office of the Clerk - please keep it that way.
This is an immediate disclosure request to each of the 9 Supervisors (and their Offices), and to the Clerk (and her Office):
(a) responses (to records requests) from Jan 1, 2020 to present which you have justified a withholding or redaction by Gov Code 6255 (public-interest balancing test aka catchall exemption), because they are documents and information during the course of contract negotiations, the deliberative process privilege, Penal Code 832.7(b)(6), Times Mirror Co v Superior Court (1991), or any other public-interest balancing test,
(b) underlying original records (without any redactions you may have previously applied) for which you previously claimed any of the redactions/withholdings in (a) (that's not the same as (a) - read carefully - I want the cover letters in (a) and also the original records in (b), and you must justify their withholding - if you withhold them today - to me in writing to this request)
EXCLUDED are:
(c) prior responses to this specific From email address at protonmail. Do NOT assume that responses to anonymous people on MuckRock are me, or exclude on that basis. Since the Scott/Breed homeless texts went viral there are a large number of people making similar requests on MuckRock, often copy-pasting my verbiage and legalese from my requests.
I intend to ensure you justify all those refusals to me in this request (which I will then appeal while the earlier requesters may choose not to) and to legally force you to preserve all such original records pending appeals until after COVID orders expire or are thrown out by the Board or a Court, and then also to re-request all of those records at that time.
NOTE: Nothing herein is legal, IT, or professional advice of any kind. The author disclaims all warranties, express or implied, including but not limited to all warranties of merchantability or fitness. In no event shall the author be liable for any special, direct, indirect, consequential, or any other damages whatsoever. The digital signature (signature.asc attachment), if any, in this email is not an indication of a binding agreement or offer; it merely authenticates the sender. Please do not include any confidential information, as I intend that these communications with the government all be disclosable public records. I am not MuckRock - I am just a user of MuckRock.
Sincerely,
Anonymous
From: San Francisco County Board of Supervisors
To Whom it May Concern:
Thank you for your inquiry. On behalf of the Office of the Clerk of the Board, I am confirming receipt of your request.
As you may know, the Sunshine Ordinance, Administrative Code § 67.24(g) and § 67.24(h), prohibits withholding or redacting records under the balancing exemption and deliberative process asserted in CA Government Code 6255(a) and 6255(b), respectively.
The Office of the Clerk of the Board was not able to identify records responsive to your request as CA Government Code 6255 is not an applicable exemption that we have cited. Please note that I have also submitted an inquiry to the nine (9) district offices noted in your request, and will follow up to provide you the affirmative on behalf of our department as a whole.
As immediate disclosure requests have been suspended in accordance with the second<https://sfmayor.org/sites/default/files/SupplementalDeclaration2_03132020_stamped.pdf> supplemental to the Mayor’s proclamation of local emergency, I intend to provide you with a response or update by Thursday, January 21, 2021, and will keep you apprised if a response can be provided sooner.
Sincerely,
__
Wilson L. Ng
Deputy Director of Operations
San Francisco Board of Supervisors
1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place, Room 244
San Francisco, CA 94102
Web: www.sfbos.org<http://www.sfbos.org/>
Due to the current COVID-19 health emergency and the Shelter in Place Order, the Office of the Clerk of the Board is working remotely while providing complete access to the legislative process and our services.
[CustomerSatisfactionIcon]<http://www.sfbos.org/index.aspx?page=104> Click here<http://www.sfbos.org/index.aspx?page=104> to complete a Board of Supervisors Customer Service Satisfaction form
Disclosures: Personal information that is provided in communications to the Clerk of the Board of Supervisors is subject to disclosure under the California Public Records Act and the San Francisco Sunshine Ordinance. Personal information provided will not be redacted. Members of the public are not required to provide personal identifying information when they communicate with the Board of Supervisors and its committees. All written or oral communications that members of the public submit to the Clerk's Office regarding pending legislation or hearings will be made available to all members of the public for inspection and copying. The Clerk's Office does not redact any information from these submissions. This means that personal information—including names, phone numbers, addresses and similar information that a member of the public elects to submit to the Board and its committees—may appear on the Board of Supervisors website or in other public documents that members of the public may inspect or copy.
[…]
From: twitter.com/journo_anon Public Records Requester
Thank you Mr. Ng.
Please confirm that you and the 9 supes are not just looking for 6255, but all the justifications I asked for "Gov Code 6255 (public-interest balancing test aka catchall exemption), because they are documents and information during the course of contract negotiations, the deliberative process privilege, Penal Code 832.7(b)(6), Times Mirror Co v Superior Court (1991), or any other public-interest balancing test, "
You are certainly correct that balancing tests are not allowed. The Mayor however has argued that COVID makese these justifications legal, including the separate contract negotiation exemption that is also banned by 67.24(e).
Therefore please do actually check - it is possible your office or the Supes have used them.
Thanks,
Anonymous
From: San Francisco County Board of Supervisors
To Whom It May Concern,
To follow up on our last communication, this is to confirm that our office was not able to identify records responsive to your request as per our inquiry to district offices.
To amend my previous response, the Mayor’s fifth supplement<https://sfmayor.org/sites/default/files/032320_FifthSupplement.pdf> to the proclamation declaring local emergency suspended Sections 67.24(g) and (i) of the City Administrative Code, thus permitting City agencies to rely on CA Section 6255’s general balancing exemption to withhold or redact records. However, our office endeavors to adhere to all normal deadlines and processes as feasible, and have not applied the authority provided under CA Section 6255.
For your reference, the City Attorney’s office has provided a public memo, available here<https://www.sfcityattorney.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Public-Records-Memo-3-30-20.pdf>, which provides a full analysis on page 4.
Sincerely,
__
Wilson L. Ng
Deputy Director of Operations
San Francisco Board of Supervisors
1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place, Room 244
San Francisco, CA 94102
Web: www.sfbos.org<http://www.sfbos.org/>
PLEASE NOTE: I will be on leave from February 1 through February 12, 2021.
Due to the current COVID-19 health emergency and the Shelter in Place Order, the Office of the Clerk of the Board is working remotely while providing complete access to the legislative process and our services.
[CustomerSatisfactionIcon]<http://www.sfbos.org/index.aspx?page=104> Click here<http://www.sfbos.org/index.aspx?page=104> to complete a Board of Supervisors Customer Service Satisfaction form
Disclosures: Personal information that is provided in communications to the Clerk of the Board of Supervisors is subject to disclosure under the California Public Records Act and the San Francisco Sunshine Ordinance. Personal information provided will not be redacted. Members of the public are not required to provide personal identifying information when they communicate with the Board of Supervisors and its committees. All written or oral communications that members of the public submit to the Clerk's Office regarding pending legislation or hearings will be made available to all members of the public for inspection and copying. The Clerk's Office does not redact any information from these submissions. This means that personal information—including names, phone numbers, addresses and similar information that a member of the public elects to submit to the Board and its committees—may appear on the Board of Supervisors website or in other public documents that members of the public may inspect or copy.
From: twitter.com/journo_anon Public Records Requester
Thank you.
1. Please confirm you have no records for not just 6255, but also the other categories I requested: "documents and information during the course of contract negotiations, the deliberative process privilege, Penal Code 832.7(b)(6), Times Mirror Co v Superior Court (1991), or any other public-interest balancing test, " Is your answer no responsive records for ALL of those?
2. Does your no responsive records answer also apply to Clerk of the Board AND all 9 supervisor's offices?
--Anonymous
From: San Francisco County Board of Supervisors
Confirming that our office did not identify responsive records to the other categories, and our response is applicable for the Clerk of the Board and the district offices.
Sincerely,
__
Wilson L. Ng
Deputy Director of Operations
San Francisco Board of Supervisors
1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place, Room 244
San Francisco, CA 94102
Web: www.sfbos.org<http://www.sfbos.org/>
PLEASE NOTE: I will be on leave from February 1 through February 12, 2021.
Due to the current COVID-19 health emergency and the Shelter in Place Order, the Office of the Clerk of the Board is working remotely while providing complete access to the legislative process and our services.
[CustomerSatisfactionIcon]<http://www.sfbos.org/index.aspx?page=104> Click here<http://www.sfbos.org/index.aspx?page=104> to complete a Board of Supervisors Customer Service Satisfaction form
Disclosures: Personal information that is provided in communications to the Clerk of the Board of Supervisors is subject to disclosure under the California Public Records Act and the San Francisco Sunshine Ordinance. Personal information provided will not be redacted. Members of the public are not required to provide personal identifying information when they communicate with the Board of Supervisors and its committees. All written or oral communications that members of the public submit to the Clerk's Office regarding pending legislation or hearings will be made available to all members of the public for inspection and copying. The Clerk's Office does not redact any information from these submissions. This means that personal information—including names, phone numbers, addresses and similar information that a member of the public elects to submit to the Board and its committees—may appear on the Board of Supervisors website or in other public documents that members of the public may inspect or copy.
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From: twitter.com/journo_anon Public Records Requester
Excellent - thank you.