Herrera Text Messages - Immediate Disclosure Request

Dennis Herrera and City Attorney's Office:

Below are Immediate Disclosure Requests (SF Admin Code 67.25(a)). Your initial response is required by Sept 3, 2020. Rolling records responses are requested (SFAC 67.25(d)) if you are unable to immediately produce all records. Exact copies of every responsive record are requested (Gov Code 6253(b)) - do not or print and scan electronic records or provide black and white versions of any color record. Provide only copies of records not requiring fees and in-person inspection of all other records (GC 6253).

Your non-exhaustive obligations: All withholding of any information must be justified (SFAC 67.27). All withholdings by masking or deletion (aka redactions) must be keyed by footnote or other clear reference to justification and only the minimal exempt portion of a record may be withheld (SFAC 67.26). Respond to emailed requests (SFAC 67.21(b)). You must notify us of whether or not responsive records exist and/or were withheld for each below request (Gov Code 6253(c), 6255(b)). You must state the name and title of each person responsible for withholding any information (Gov Code 6253(d)). You must do all of this in your response, and you cannot wait until we file complaints. If you wait to comply with the Sunshine Ordinance until after we file complaints, we will not withdraw any complaints and request SOTF find you in violation, regardless of what you do after filing.

****** We have no duty to, and we will not again, remind the City of its obligations. Instead, we will file complaints for every Sunshine Ordinance or CPRA violation. We will continue to file complaints until your procedures are modified to fully comply with the Sunshine Ordinance and CPRA, without caveat or exception. ******

1. The full text/chat message thread between Dennis Herrera and London Breed and William Scott on May 30-31 and June 1, 2020. Include all messages, timestamps, and attachments/images. Please search all text/chat apps including but not limited to SMS/MMS/Messages/iMessage/Messenger/Hangouts. This thread has been partially disclosed to us by other city agencies, so we know it is not completely attorney-client privileged, and we know it exists. Please search both personal accounts/devices of Herrera, and, as your Good Govt Guide requires, search Herrera's deleted messages, trash, or similar folders.

Please indicate "no responsive records" for each request if that is true.

NOTE: Please be certain you have properly redacted all of your responses. Once you send them to us, there is no going back. The email address sending this request is a publicly- viewable mailbox. All of your responses (including all responsive records) may be instantly and automatically available to the public online via the MuckRock.com FOIA service used to issue this request (though the requester is an anonymous user, not a representative of MuckRock). 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, 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 City all be disclosable public records.

--Anonymous

Thank you - for avoidance of doubt, I've fixed a typo below:

1. The full text/chat message thread between Dennis Herrera and London Breed and William Scott on May 30-31 and June 1, 2020. Include all messages, timestamps, and attachments/images. Please search all text/chat apps including but not limited to SMS/MMS/Messages/iMessage/Messenger/Hangouts. This thread has been partially disclosed to us by other city agencies, so we know it is not completely attorney-client privileged, and we know it exists. Please search both personal **and government** accounts/devices of Herrera, and, as your Good Govt Guide requires, search Herrera's deleted messages, trash, or similar folders.

--Anonymous

Thank you. This is a new immediate disclosure request:

Below are Immediate Disclosure Requests (SF Admin Code 67.25(a)). Your initial response is required by Sept 16, 2020. Rolling records responses are requested (SFAC 67.25(d)) if you are unable to immediately produce all records. Exact copies of every responsive record are requested (Gov Code 6253(b)) - do not or print and scan electronic records or provide black and white versions of any color record. Provide only copies of records not requiring fees and in-person inspection of all other records (GC 6253).

Your non-exhaustive obligations: All withholding of any information must be justified (SFAC 67.27). All withholdings by masking or deletion (aka redactions) must be keyed by footnote or other clear reference to justification and only the minimal exempt portion of a record may be withheld (SFAC 67.26). Respond to emailed requests (SFAC 67.21(b)). You must notify us of whether or not responsive records exist and/or were withheld for each below request (Gov Code 6253(c), 6255(b)). You must state the name and title of each person responsible for withholding any information (Gov Code 6253(d)). You must do all of this in your response, and you cannot wait until we file complaints. If you wait to comply with the Sunshine Ordinance until after we file complaints, we will not withdraw any complaints and request SOTF find you in violation, regardless of what you do after filing.

****** We have no duty to, and we will not again, remind the City of its obligations. Instead, we will file complaints for every Sunshine Ordinance or CPRA violation. We will continue to file complaints until your procedures are modified to fully comply with the Sunshine Ordinance and CPRA, without caveat or exception. ******

1. All text/chat messages between Dennis Herrera and Mayor London Breed Jan 1, 2020 through present (which also includes all conversations where both Herrera and Breed are part of the group, even if not sent by Breed or Herrera). Include all messages, timestamps, and attachments/images. Please search all text/chat apps including but not limited to SMS/MMS/Messages/iMessage/Messenger/Hangouts. Please search both personal accounts/devices of Herrera, and, as your Good Govt Guide requires, search Herrera's deleted messages, trash, or similar folders.

2. All text/chat messages between Dennis Herrera and Chief William Scott Jan 1, 2020 through present (which also includes all conversations where both Herrera and Scott are part of the group, even if not sent by Scott or Herrera). Include all messages, timestamps, and attachments/images. Please search all text/chat apps including but not limited to SMS/MMS/Messages/iMessage/Messenger/Hangouts. Please search both personal accounts/devices of Herrera, and, as your Good Govt Guide requires, search Herrera's deleted messages, trash, or similar folders.

Please indicate "no responsive records" for each request if that is true.

NOTE: Please be certain you have properly redacted all of your responses. Once you send them to us, there is no going back. The email address sending this request is a publicly- viewable mailbox. All of your responses (including all responsive records) may be instantly and automatically available to the public online via the MuckRock.com FOIA service used to issue this request (though the requester is an anonymous user, not a representative of MuckRock). 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, 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 City all be disclosable public records.

--Anonymous

Thank you. This is a new immediate disclosure request:

7. An exact copy of the entire original email record, including but not limited to all email headers (names and values), for the single oldest email received by your office from requests@muckrock.com to cityattorney@sfcityatty.org . Please be sure to preserve (at least, but not only) email header names and at least the timestamps in the "Received" headers. Consult your own City CISO if you believe I'm wrong. If you claim GC 6255(a), it will be SOTF not you who still decides whether the interest in non-disclosure "clearly outweighs" the interest in disclosure. If you do not provide this single record with minimal redactions and footnotes or other clear references for justifications for each and every withheld portion of the record, an additional willful violation and official misconduct complaint will be filed against Dennis Herrera as department head on the basis of prior order SOTF 19044.

Please indicate "no responsive records" for each request if that is true.

Above are Immediate Disclosure Requests (SF Admin Code 67.25(a)). Your initial response is required by Sept 29, 2020. Rolling records responses are requested (SFAC 67.25(d)) if you are unable to immediately produce all records. Exact copies of every responsive record are requested (Gov Code 6253(b)) - do not or print and scan electronic records or provide black and white versions of any color record. Provide only copies of records not requiring fees and in-person inspection of all other records (GC 6253).

Your non-exhaustive obligations: All withholding of any information must be justified (SFAC 67.27). All withholdings by masking or deletion (aka redactions) must be keyed by footnote or other clear reference to justification and only the minimal exempt portion of a record may be withheld (SFAC 67.26). Respond to emailed requests (SFAC 67.21(b)). You must notify us of whether or not responsive records exist and/or were withheld for each below request (Gov Code 6253(c), 6255(b)). You must state the name and title of each person responsible for withholding any information (Gov Code 6253(d)). You must do all of this in your response, and you cannot wait until we file complaints. If you wait to comply with the Sunshine Ordinance until after we file complaints, we will not withdraw any complaints and request SOTF find you in violation, regardless of what you do after filing.

****** We have no duty to, and we will not again, remind the City of its obligations. Instead, we will file complaints for every Sunshine Ordinance or CPRA violation. We will continue to file complaints until your procedures are modified to fully comply with the Sunshine Ordinance and CPRA, without caveat or exception. ******

NOTE: Please be certain you have properly redacted all of your responses. Once you send them to us, there is no going back. The email address sending this request is a publicly- viewable mailbox. All of your responses (including all responsive records) may be instantly and automatically available to the public online via the MuckRock.com FOIA service used to issue this request (though the requester is an anonymous user, not a representative of MuckRock). 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, 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 City all be disclosable public records.

--Anonymous

This is a violation not just of the Sunshine Ordinance but of the CPRA as well.
You were asked for a single email record on Sep. 26 (which is treated as if you received it on Sep. 28, Monday).
The CPRA, and Sunshine Ordinance, required a response in 10 days. You failed to provide me one. It is now the 15th day.
Under Gov Code 6253(a) you owed me in 10-days either a determination or an extension for 14 days. You failed to provide such determination and violated the law. You also unlawfully failed to state what unusual circumstance warrants an extension.

Your extension lasts until Oct 23, 2020 - 14 days from 10 days from constructive receipt of my request, and no further.

From your response in 19044 and from now multiple other City agencies' production of email metadata, I know that a single email worth of metadata is 2-3 pages to produce at even a large font. It's just not a lot.

If Dennis Herrera is willfully refusing to comply with the SOTF's orders to provide email header metadata, say so clearly, and don't waste time.

Sincerely,
Anonymous

Good morning,

We will expect your compliant production of the single email metadata by Nov. 5.

We have now received mostly-compliant (though we have some disputes) responses
from DPW: https://sanfrancisco.nextrequest.com/documents/5817767 and
from DT: https://sanfrancisco.nextrequest.com/documents/5577453

Sincerely,

Anonymous

Then we will file complaints. This is a redaction of a 2-3 page document, tops. It can't take this long. DPW figured out how to do this for a single email in a matter of days after it was discussed. Dragging your feet won't help turn legally disclosable information into secret information.

--Anonymous

Can your office be honest? What is taking so long to review 2-3 pages of documents? In far less time than it has taken you to review a single email, DPW - an organization that presumably lacks the expertise of DT - has produced dozens of redacted emails in metadata format...

It's been months and there has been no response. Further complaints will be filed. And you've already seen that last time you argued that COVID allowed you to withhold metadata, SOTF compliance turned the argument around and argued COVID requires more disclosure, not less.

Supervisor of Records,

City Attorney's Office has refused to comply to the request from this email address dated Sept 26, 2020.
They gave themselves multiple extensions until Dec 10, 2020 and still refuse to respond.
Herrera has already accepted that some of the email metadata is public and disclosable and now cannot go back.
Furthermore, DT has a system to produce that metadata automatically.

This is a petition under 67.21(d) for a written determination that some or all of the records not provided are public and an order for their disclosure.

--Anonymous

Dennis Herrera:

You have ignored our prior requests for your text messages; as you wish - we shall continue to ask for them and you must preserve them.

Please provide all instant, chat, or text messages of any kind or any form, including all group messages, including all attachments, audio, video, images, text, files, date/time stamps, participant names, on government or personal accounts, including Microsoft Teams chats, between you and London Breed

'Including' means 'including but not limited to'.

Dennis Herrera:

You have ignored our prior requests; as you wish - we shall continue to ask for them and you must preserve them.

Please provide all instant, chat, or text messages of any kind or any form, including all group messages, including all attachments, audio, video, images, text, files, date/time stamps, participant names, on government or personal accounts, including Microsoft Teams chats, between you and Sean Elsbernd

'Including' means 'including but not limited to'.

Dennis Herrera:

You have ignored our prior requests; as you wish - we shall continue to ask for them and you must preserve them.

Please provide all instant, chat, or text messages of any kind or any form, including all group messages, including all attachments, audio, video, images, text, files, date/time stamps, participant names, on government or personal accounts, including Microsoft Teams chats, between you and Andrea Bruss

'Including' means 'including but not limited to'.

Dennis Herrera:

You have ignored our prior requests; as you wish - we shall continue to ask for them and you must preserve them.

Please provide all instant, chat, or text messages of any kind or any form, including all group messages, including all attachments, audio, video, images, text, files, date/time stamps, participant names, on government or personal accounts, including Microsoft Teams chats, between you and John Cote

'Including' means 'including but not limited to'.

John Cote:

You have ignored our prior requests; as you wish - we shall continue to ask for them and you must preserve them.

Please provide all instant, chat, or text messages of any kind or any form, including all group messages, including all attachments, audio, video, images, text, files, date/time stamps, participant names, on government or personal accounts, including Microsoft Teams chats, between you and Dennis Herrera

'Including' means 'including but not limited to'.

Brittany Feitelberg:

You have ignored our prior requests; as you wish - we shall continue to ask for them and you must preserve them.

Please provide all instant, chat, or text messages of any kind or any form, including all group messages, including all attachments, audio, video, images, text, files, date/time stamps, participant names, on government or personal accounts, including Microsoft Teams chats, between you and Dennis Herrera

'Including' means 'including but not limited to'.