SF City Attorney Jennifer Donnellan
Submitted | Jan. 29, 2021 |
Est. Completion | Feb. 22, 2021 |
MuckRock users can file, duplicate, track, and share public records requests like this one. Learn more.
Communications
From: Anon
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the California Public Records Act, I hereby request the following records:
RE: BCC Emails - Immediate Disclosure Request
Below are new Immediate Disclosure Requests (SF Admin Code 67.25(a)) directed to your agency and its department head. Your response is required by Feb 03, 2021. Rolling records responses are requested (SFAC 67.25(d)) if you are unable to immediately produce records. Exact copies of every responsive record are requested (Gov Code 6253(b)) - do not: provide mere URLs, print and scan electronic records, convert native files to PDFs, 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). Emails are requested in the easily-generated EML or MSG formats (SFAC 67.21(l)).
I am now auditing how the City appears to unlawfully withhold the BCC recipients of emails when they print out emails in certain formats. The identity of BCC recipients is not exempt. BCC is not an information security record that reveals vulnerabilities or increases chance of an attack. The BCC names was typed in by a human being and are not metadata. You must provide BCC just like you provide To or CC recipients. There is no legal authority to keep secret the identities of persons communicating with government officials, unless they are specifically confidential informants and such. If you withhold the BCC names, I will file complaints, separate and apart from email metadata complaints, which at this point I have already won (see SOTF 19044).
Your non-exhaustive obligations: All withholding of any information must be justified in writing (SFAC 67.27). All withholdings by masking or deletion (aka redactions) must be keyed by footnote or other clear reference to the specific justification for that redaction, and only the minimal exempt portion of any record may be withheld (SFAC 67.26). You must 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)). Do not impose any end-user restrictions upon me (Santa Clara Co. vs Superior Ct, 170 Cal.App 4th 1301); so if you use a third-party website to publish records, please make them completely public without any login or sign-in.
Your agency must do all of the above things in your response, and you cannot wait until we file complaints.
****** 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 the City's procedures are modified to fully comply with the Sunshine Ordinance and CPRA, without caveat or exception. ******
1. An exact copy with all email headers (incl. but not limited to the BCC identities), attachments, color, formatting and all other parts of the record of the most recent 5 emails which have any BCC recipients which were sent by your Department Head on their government account . Note that you will have to search directly from the Department Head's computer or account in their Sent folder specifically (In many email systems, no other method will allow you to see the BCC recipients). In modern Outlook systems, the search query is as follows: (bcc:*)
2. All email including BCC correspondence of San Francisco City Attorney Jennifer Donnellan and Trevor Koski from January 1, 2017 to January 29, 2021
Do not destroy or discard any responsive records - we will appeal all withholdings or Sunshine violations.
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.
The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.
In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.
Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 10 calendar days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
Anon
From: San Francisco City Attorney
Dear requester,
Thank you for your email. Part two of your request is for all email including BCC correspondence of San Francisco City Attorney Jennifer Donnellan and Trevor Koski from 1/01/17-1/29/21. Can you please confirm whether you are requesting only emails in this date range that contain BCC recipients, or are you requesting all emails within the date range? Given the date range, the latter could result in a very large volume of emails so for purposes of your audit we would request that you shorten the time period to a much more limited period (e.g., 30 days) or if you want a broader time period then limit it to emails with BCCs only. Also, Trevor Koski is no longer with our office, which makes it more technically complicated to perform such a search. Will you please omit Trevor Koski from this request, or if necessary, select a current City Attorney employee?
Please send replies to cityattorney@sfcityatty.org<mailto:cityattorney@sfcityatty.org>
Best,
[image010]Elizabeth A. Coolbrith
Paralegal
Office of City Attorney Dennis Herrera
(415) 554-4685 Direct
www.sfcityattorney.org
From: Anon
Please send all of Jennifer Donnellan emails including BCC emails starting from 1/31/18 through 1/31/21. Please add Shawn Kelley emails including BCC from 11/7/16 to 1/31/17. Trevor Koski emails are city property and will not be omitted from the request.
From: San Francisco City Attorney
Dear requester,
Thank you for your email. Can you please identify a particular subject matter of the emails requested, and/or limit your request to emails actually with BCCs? The request as is currently worded is extremely broad.
Please send replies to cityattorney@sfcityatty.org<mailto:cityattorney@sfcityatty.org>
Best,
[image010]Elizabeth A. Coolbrith
Paralegal
Office of City Attorney Dennis Herrera
(415) 554-4685 Direct
www.sfcityattorney.org
From: Anon
We have a right to all the emails requested including BCC emails. Please send all the emails requested. Stop with the back and forth. Send ALL emails including BCC and the time frame requested.
From: San Francisco City Attorney
Dear requester,
I am responding on behalf of the City Attorney's Office to your below request. Please note that we are invoking an extension of time under Government Code section 6253(c) due to the need to search for, collect, and appropriately examine a voluminous amount of separate and distinct records. We will endeavor to process your request as quickly as possible and anticipate responding no later than the close of business February 22, 2021.
Please send replies to cityattorney@sfcityatty.org<mailto:cityattorney@sfcityatty.org>
Best,
[image010]Elizabeth A. Coolbrith
Paralegal
Office of City Attorney Dennis Herrera
(415) 554-4685 Direct
www.sfcityattorney.org
-
image001
From: San Francisco City Attorney
Dear requester,
I am responding on behalf of the City Attorney's Office to your below request. Attached please find records responsive to part one of your request.
Regarding part two of your request, you have requested emails for specified attorneys over a period of four years without any limitation on subject matter, email recipient, or specific search terms. Your request seeks an extraordinary number of documents-many thousands of emails, all of which would require careful review for privileged or other confidential content. You have declined to comply in any way with our request that you narrow the scope of your request to allow for a reasonable search. Your request does not comply with California Government Code Section 6253(b), which states that a request must "reasonably describe[s] an identifiable record or records." Your request is so broad that it cannot be described as a "reasonable description" of "identifiable records." Moreover, we are withholding documents based on Government Code Section 6255, and the "rule of reason" described on pages 97-98 of our office's Good Government Guide<https://www.sfcityattorney.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Good-Government-Guide-February-2019.pdf>. Finally, because many of the documents you seek contain attorney-client communications and attorney work product, we are withholding those records on that basis. (See Cal. Gov't Code § 6276.04; Cal. Evid. Code § 954 and Cal. Gov't Code § 6276.04; Cal. Code of Civil Pro. § 2018.030.) We encourage you to submit a revised request narrowing the scope of the search to that we can assist you to find the records you are looking for.
Please send replies to cityattorney@sfcityatty.org<mailto:cityattorney@sfcityatty.org>
Best,
[image010]Elizabeth A. Coolbrith
Paralegal
Office of City Attorney Dennis Herrera
(415) 554-4685 Direct
www.sfcityattorney.org
From: San Francisco City Attorney
Dear requester,
I am responding on behalf of the City Attorney's Office to your below request. Attached please find the responsive records. Please note we have redacted information that is unrelated to city business on pages 1, 3, 4, and 5. We have also redacted personal information on page 11 that is exempt from disclosure under Cal Const., Article I, section 1; Cal. Government Code Section 6254(c), (k); Admin. Code Section 67.1(g). We have also redacted work product on pages 2, 6, 10, and 12 (Cal. Gov't Code § 6276.04; Cal. Code of Civil Pro. § 2018.030). Please also note we have withheld records based on privacy (Cal Const., Article I, section 1; Cal. Government Code Section 6254(c), (k); Admin. Code Section 67.1(g)), attorney-client privilege (Cal. Gov't Code § 6276.04; Cal. Evid. Code § 954) and attorney work product (Cal. Gov't Code § 6276.04; Cal. Code of Civil Pro. § 2018.030).
Please send replies to cityattorney@sfcityatty.org<mailto:cityattorney@sfcityatty.org>
Best,
[image010]Elizabeth A. Coolbrith
Paralegal
Office of City Attorney Dennis Herrera
(415) 554-4685 Direct
www.sfcityattorney.org
Files
pages