- SPOTLIGHT SESSION: LEE TIEN
- Domestic Surveillance after Sept. 11: Accountability Imperiled
Concern for "homeland security" after Sept. 11 has been fertile ground for increased domestic surveillance. The Patriot Act was only the first step. The Transportation Security Administration is gearing up for "CAPPS II" (Computer-Assisted Passenger Pre-screening System); the FBI issued new surveillance guidelines that announce its intention to create a massive database for tracking potential terrorists; the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is working on a counter-terrorism "Total Information Awareness" system. These systems, and others we may not know about, pit claims of "national security" against an open government's need for accountability. Has Congress done enough to hold the executive branch accountable? Does the law provide adequate accountability in court? How can we have open government as to "more surveillance" if we don't know what the government is doing?
Lee Tien is a Senior Staff Attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, specializing in free speech law, including intersections with intellectual property law and privacy law. Before joining EFF, Lee was a sole practitioner specializing in Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) litigation. Mr. Tien has published articles on children's sexuality and information technology, anonymity, surveillance, and the First Amendment status of publishing computer software.
- Public Attorneys: Who's the Client and What Do You Tell Them?
City attorneys, county counsel and other lawyers advising government bodies and agencies are paid by the public but look to officials as their clients. When does this pose conflicts with public expectations? How much can and should these lawyers press for public access to meetings and records? A panel of experienced counsel provides insights.John Russo is the first elected City Attorney of Oakland and was the City Council member who sponsored passage of Oakland's Sunshine Ordinance. He will be the next president of the League of California Cities.
Barbara Blinderman, a CFAC board member, is a partner of Moskowitz, Brestoff , Winston & Blinderman and a longtime legal warrior for the First Amendment, unfettered access to public documents and greater government transparency. She is co-author (with attorney Roy Ulrich) of the current L.A. Sunshine Ordinance.
- SPOTLIGHT SESSION: DAVID DILWORTH
- Model Meetings: What Does Real Public Participation Look Like?
A fun, interactive workshop about how to get quick results in increasing public participation in government. Topics include meeting locations, public notice, how agendas and packets are organized and available, due process and fairness, meeting procedures including citizen-placed agenda items, and a public participation umpire.
David Dilworth is executive director of Helping Our Peninsula's Environment (HOPE) who has for 15 years been an active participant in local government, going to as many as three governmental meetings on some days.
- Monitoring Meetings for Brown Act Compliance
Pointers on what signs to look for that indicate Brown Act violations, how to document suspect practices with video, and how to communicate with officials effectively to educate and persuade them and if necessary lay the groundwork for court enforcement. Blinderman, Inatsugu, Lissner, McKee
Barbara Blinderman, a CFAC board member, is a partner of Moskowitz, Brestoff , Winston & Blinderman and a longtime legal warrior for the First Amendment, unfettered access to public documents and greater government transparency. She is co-author (with attorney Roy Ulrich) of the current L.A. Sunshine Ordinance.Barbara Inatsugu, a CFAC board member, is president of the League of Women Voters of California and an open government activist. She worked in the Superintendents Office in Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District for eight years and regularly dealt with Brown Act issues.
- Richard McKee is the first citizen activist to be President of CFAC. McKee is a chemistry professor at Pasadena City College who has successfully sued a number of local government agencies to stop violations of open government law.
Asking for Government Records and CPRA Compliance Audits
A primer for anyone interested in making requests for information from state and local governments using the California Public Records Act. In this practical how-to session, panelists will discuss the basics of acquiring records as well as the obstacles encountered by those seeking public documents. The session will include how to plan and conduct a CPRA audit in your community.
Diane Barney is managing editor of The Reporter in Vacaville. She has
previously served as a board member for the California First Amendment
Coalition and the California Society of Newspaper Editors. The Reporter is
currently working on its 25th survey of public pay, which features salaries
and benefits for top-level managers throughout Solano County and recently
completed its first-ever public information audit.Ray Herndon is a CFAC board member and computer projects editor for the Los Angeles Times
Robin Miller is city editor of The Reporter in Vacaville. She played a lead
role in coordinating the newspaper's first-ever public information audit
this year, which involved sending a team of reporters and citizen volunteers
out to make 50 requests. Miller directed the reporting, editing and
packaging of the survey, which found a 41.3 percent rate of compliance.
Dan Weikel, a CFAC board member and transportation writer for the Los Angeles Times.
SPOTLIGHT SESSION: TERRY FRANCKE
A First Amendment PrimerA crash course in what everyone should know about how courts decide issues of freedom of speech, press, petition, association and religion, identifying settled law and listing breaking issues to watch.
Terry Francke is CFAC's general counsel and is widely recognized as an expert on California open government law and First Amendment issues. Francke came to the Coalition in 1990 after serving as legal counsel for the California Newspaper Publishers Association for ten years. He is a 1967 graduate of the University of Notre Dame and graduated from McGeorge School of Law in 1979. Prior to law school, his experience included radio news, public affairs positions in the Marine Corps and for a school district, and three years as editor of a weekly newspaper. Francke drafted the 1994 revisions to the Brown Act and is also the author of a model local government sunshine law that provides more government transparency than state law's minimum requirements. This model has been adopted in San Francisco, Oakland, Richmond and Contra Costa County.
Asserting Your CPRA Rights to Government Records
Learn the ins and outs of access to public records under the California Public Records Act from media attorneys, journalists and citizen activists pushing the envelope on access. Also learn about this year's access battles from the warriors and their attorneys. Duffy Carolan, Tim Crews, Richard McKee, Alonzo Wickers IV and Bob Christie
Duffy Carolan, a CFAC board member and author, is a partner at the San Francisco office of Davis Wright Tremaine LLP. Carolan lectures on media law at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism and specializes in media law, regularly advising and successfully representing various media entities on access issues.Tim Crews, a CFAC board member, is the owner, publisher and editor of The Sacramento Valley Mirror. Crews is a long-time proponent of access who often engages his local government in access issues and has successfully pursued self-represented litigation.
Richard McKee is the first citizen activist to be President of CFAC. McKee is a chemistry professor at Pasadena City College who has successfully sued a number of local government agencies to stop violations of open government law.
Bob Christie is the City Editor of The Bakersfield Californian, a mid-sized daily newspaper in the southern Central Valley. The Californian has been aggressively pursuing public records and court access issues for the past several years. Most recently, the paper sued Kern County and the city of Bakersfield under provisions of the California Public Records Act for refusing to provide exact salary and overtime figures for firefighters and law enforcement officers by name.
Alonzo Wickers IV is a partner at the Los Angeles office of Davis Wright Tremaine LLP who specializes in media law and regularly advises media clients on access issues. Wickers successfully represented the press in obtaining access to the state's controversial long-term electricity contracts, and he has won many other access battles in and out of court. He also teaches at USC's Annenberg School of Communication.
- SYMPOSIUM: TERRY FRANCKE
- CPRA: The Law, Court Decisions and Practical Application
A complete course on the California Public Records Act and how it is supposed to work for attorneys, journalists, civic activists and government officials. *Approved for 2.5 hours of MCLE credits for attorneys.
Terry Francke is CFAC's general counsel and is widely recognized as an expert on California open government law and First Amendment issues. Francke came to the Coalition in 1990 after serving as legal counsel for the California Newspaper Publishers Association for ten years. He is a 1967 graduate of the University of Notre Dame and graduated from McGeorge School of Law in 1979. Francke drafted the 1994 revisions to the Brown Act and is also the author of a model local government sunshine law that provides more government transparency than state law's minimum requirements. This model has been adopted in San Francisco, Oakland, Richmond and Contra Costa County.
- SPOTLIGHT SESSION: BILL CHAMBERLIN
- State Access Laws across the Nation
- A leading policy analyst from Florida leads a discussion of state access laws across the nation, including the unveiling of the Marion Brechner Citizen Access Project. The project will allow users of the www.citizenaccess.org website to compare readable summaries of state access statutes, cases and constitutional provisions. Those summaries are being rated by a panel of nationally recognized experts on open meetings and open records laws. Presentation will discuss comparisons of state constitutions and computer access laws, as well as other topics of current concern, including legislation aimed at curbing terrorism.
- Bill Chamberlin has been the Joseph L. Brechner Eminent Scholar in Mass Communications at the College of Journalism and Communications of the University of Florida since 1987. He now serves as Director of the Marion Brechner Citizen Access Project. He also is Founding Director of the College's Brechner Center for Freedom of Information and an affiliate professor of the University of Florida College of Law.
CPRA Denials Cloak Wrongdoing and Decision Process
A county supervisor uses the CPRA to expose wrongdoing at CalTrans but finds that success takes perseverance and willingness to face adversity. And a medical doctor who has attempted to use the CPRA to improve managed health care says the California Public Records Act is a "disaster." His attempts to obtain records from the state Department of Managed Health Care (DMHC) showing the basis for DMHC care decisions is currently before the 3d District Court of Appeal.
Ken Berry has been involved in local government affairs for 14 years. He narrowly lost an Amador County Supervisor race in 2000 running on a platform of honest and open government. Berry filed a CPRA suit to compel the local CalTrans district to disclose engineering reports associated with job bidding. When he finally received the reports, they revealed deliberate engineering malpractice.
Harvey Frey is a medical doctor and the founder of the Health Administration Responsibility Project (HARP), a resource for patients, doctors, and attorneys seeking to establish the liability of HMOs, Managed Health Care Organizations, and Nursing Facilities for the consequences of their decisions. Dr. Frey is an Associate Clinical Professor of Radiology at the University of California at Los Angeles. He obtained his license to practice law the same year he saw his first Social Security check.
Further Panelists to Be Named
- SYMPOSIUM: TERRY FRANCKE
- Open Government: It's the Law!
A complete course on the Ralph M. Brown Act and how it is supposed to work for attorneys, journalists, civic activists and government officials. *Approved for 2.5 hours of MCLE credits for attorneys.
Terry Francke is CFAC's general counsel and is widely recognized as an expert on California open government law and First Amendment issues. Francke came to the Coalition in 1990 after serving as legal counsel for the California Newspaper Publishers Association for ten years. He is a 1967 graduate of the University of Notre Dame and graduated from McGeorge School of Law in 1979. Francke drafted the 1994 revisions to the Brown Act and is also the author of a model local government sunshine law that provides more government transparency than state law's minimum requirements. This model has been adopted in San Francisco, Oakland, Richmond and Contra Costa County.
Electronic Access to Court Records and Privacy Concerns
A look at the current practices throughout the state of electronic access to court records and concerns that have been raised regarding the privacy of individuals named in records held by the court.
Linda Ackerman is staff counsel for PrivacyActivism. Her main areas of expertise are privacy issues created by the extensive use of databases.
James Chadwick is an attorney with Gray Cary Ware & Freidenrich in Palo Alto who specializes in media access law. A longtime advocate for open government, Chadwick is a member of the CFAC board of directors and a co-author of SCA 7, the constitutional sunshine amendment that would give all Californians a fundamental constitutional right of access to government meetings and records.
Bill Chamberlin has been the Joseph L. Brechner Eminent Scholar in Mass Communications at the College of Journalism and Communications of the University of Florida since 1987. He now serves as Director of the Marion Brechner Citizen Access Project. He also is Founding Director of the College's Brechner Center for Freedom of Information and an affiliate professor of the University of Florida College of Law.
Griff Palmer is database editor for the San Jose Mercury-News. He coordinates acquisition of public records in electronic form for reporting purposes.
Deborah Pierce is founder and Executive Director of PrivacyActivism.org, a non-profit organization that focuses on consumer education, advocacy, and analysis of privacy issues.
- Monitoring Meetings for Brown Act Compliance
Pointers on what signs to look for that indicate Brown Act violations, how to document suspect practices with video, and how to communicate with officials effectively to educate and persuade them and if necessary lay the groundwork for court enforcement. McKee, Inatsugu
- Richard McKee is the first citizen activist to be President of CFAC. McKee is a chemistry professor at Pasadena City College who has successfully sued a number of local government agencies to stop violations of open government law.
Barbara Inatsugu, a CFAC board member, is president of the League of Women Voters of California and an open government activist. She worked in the Superintendents Office in Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District for eight years and regularly dealt with Brown Act issues.
Sunshine Ordinance I
Enacting Effective Policy in Los AngelesA look at the grassroots effort to create and sustain the L.A. Sunshine Coalition and push for a local Sunshine Ordinance with the L.A. County Board of Supervisors. Discussion will include what works and what doesn't; keeping focused; the differences in ethical comfort levels and actions between journalists and advocates; and interpreting and responding to successes, failures and delays.
Karen Ocamb is on the board of the L.A. Press Club and one of the organizers of the L.A. Sunshine Coalition. Based in West Hollywood, she is a freelance writer and independent producer with a penchant for exposing lies and malfeasance. Karen is a former associate producer at CBS News in New York.
Barbara Blinderman, a CFAC board member, is a partner of Moskowitz, Brestoff , Winston & Blinderman and a longtime legal warrior for the First Amendment, unfettered access to public documents and greater government transparency. She is co-author (with attorney Roy Ulrich) of the current L.A. Sunshine Ordinance.
Rich McKee is a Pasadena City College chemistry professor and the first non-journalist president of the CFAC. McKee, who is working on a law degree, carries both a carrot and a big stick, offering to educate politicians on the importance of open government and suing them when they fail to correct erroneous actions.
Joel Bellman is Communications Director for L.A. County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, president of the County's Board of Supervisors. A former journalist and a board member of the Southern California chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, he is a strong advocate for the First Amendment while also weighing the concerns and responsibilities of government. Joel has worked tirelessly to explain the Board's point of view during the process of pushing for a Sunshine Ordinance.
Cesar Portillio is the Director of Governmental Affairs for the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, one of the nation's leading non-profit agencies for people with HIV/AIDS. A former candidate for state Assembly from the Hollywood-Silverlake area, he has become painfully familiar with government bureaucracy and the California Public Records Act. Cesar was once charged over $300 for a 7-page public record.
Sunshine Ordinance II
From Policy to Reality in OaklandOakland passed its Sunshine Ordinance in 1997 to expand the public's right beyond what was provided for by the Brown Act and California Public Records Act. But passing a new law by itself is not enough. How do you get the bureaucracy to accept and implement the new Sunshine Ordinance? Creation of Websites, brochures and outreach to the community, staff training and other ways to encourage city employees to carry out the intent of open government laws. A glimpse of the conflicts between the branches of city government over keeping the public's business public.
John Russo is the first elected City Attorney of Oakland and was the City Council member who sponsored passage of Oakland's Sunshine Ordinance. He will be the next president of the League of California Cities.
Mark Morodomi is supervising deputy for the Oakland City Attorney's Open Government Program and former acting chief of enforcement for the state Fair Political Practices Commission.
Michelle Abney is Oakland's new Open Government Coordinator who acts as the city's spokesperson when interacting with community members and outside agencies regarding requests for information and compliance with the Brown Act, CPRA and the Sunshine Ordinance.
Sunshine Ordinance III
Enforcement and other Fine TuningSan Francisco was the first California city to adopt a Sunshine Ordinance holding local officials to open government standards higher that state law. This panel will look at the San Francisco experience, with all its twists and turns, and examine how well-or not-the San Francisco ordinance is working.
Bruce Brugmann is a member of the San Francisco Sunshine Ordinance Task Force, publisher of the San Francisco Bay Guardian, and a CFAC director. He has long been an advocate for government transparency in San Francisco and throughout California.
Richard Knee serves on the San Francisco Sunshine Ordinance Task force, and was a key member of the campaign team that persuaded San Francisco voters to approve an initiative strengthening the city's Sunshine Ordinance in 1999.
He is a long-time member of CFAC and the Society of Professional Journalists, Northern California Chapter, Freedom of Information Committee. He is a freelance journalist who writes a column on FOI and First Amendment issues for the monthly newsletter of National Writers Union Bay Area Local 3.Joshua Koltun is Chair of the San Francisco Sunshine Ordinance Task Force. He is a partner at the law firm Steinhart & Falconer LLP, and specializes in media and intellectual property litigation. He has represented newspaper and magazine publishers, network broadcasters, cable television channels, software companies, Internet sites and semiconductor chip designers. In addition to representing clients before the federal and state courts, he performs prepublication review and other counseling, and negotiates intellectual property licenses.
Unheard Voices: The Frustrations of Citizen Participation
Learn about dirty tricks that government agencies play to keep information from the public and how some government entities harass citizens, use public humiliation and the justice system to discourage public participation or scrutiny. Panelists have a wide array of experiences with government agencies that squelch participation with rules and even county prison time to punish those who choose to stand up for their rights.
Shirley Bard is a retired telecommunications executive who is frequently admonished at public meetings for being "out of order" when she attempts to expose wrongdoing by elected officials. She is second vice president of Government Watch Executive Council.
Shirley Goodwin is a retired San Bernardino County Sheriff's sergeant, turned private investigator, whose quest for animal welfare threw her into a fight to protect First Amendment rights. Finding herself targeted by political adversaries after she filed a civil rights action against the county, she was arrested and prosecuted for various charges. Ms. Goodwin holds a Master's Degree in Public Administration from USC and an undergraduate degree from Cal State University, san Bernardino.
Laura Koepke is president of the Government Watch Executive Council and is President, Executive Editor and Publisher of the Justice Journal and Bear Valley Bulletin. She was removed from a county citizens advisory committee because she said "uncomplimentary things" about board members.Robert Nelson is a retired systems analyst whose family settled in Summit Valley in San Bernardino County in the 1920s. Land issues prompted Nelson to participate in San Bernardino County politics in the 1980s. Nelson says he has been targeted by corrupt politicians, leading to 45 arrests with 11 criminal cases filed against him, either of which were dismissed before trial.
Colleen Smethers will relate her experiences with the Riverside County Board of Supervisors as she lobbied for clean air and against organized cockfights.
Gina Wagner is first vice president of Government Watch Executive Council and a citizen activist who survived Hitler's fascist Germany and a SLAPP suit by a local fire chief.
Grand Juries as Open Government Watchdogs
A panel of experts explores the possibilities and pitfalls of grand juries as open government watchdogs. The president of the California Grand Jury Association proposes that a great way to improve government transparency is to strengthen and support the grand jury and publicize its findings. Another activist proposes a statewide grand jury system to investigate state agency tomfoolery. And Judge Quentin Kopp, who oversees grand jury investigations, shares his wisdom and insights into a grand jury's ability to help keep government meetings and records open to the public.
William Collier is the attorney who wrote the statewide grand jury initiative in conjunction with the Northern California Coalition for Limited Government (NCCLG). Collier is an environmental attorney and a consultant to business. He is a member of the Oaks Project, a group that sponsored Proposition 9 in 1998.
Ralph Morrell is president of the Northern California Coalition for Limited Government, a non-profit organization that proposes an initiative to amend the state constitution to create a state grand jury system to scrutinize state government.
The Honorable Quentin Kopp is a former state senator who is currently a San Mateo County Superior Court judge who has overseen county grand jury efforts in the past. Judge Kopp has been a friend of the open government movement throughout his career.
Jack Zepp is a retired attorney and president of the California Grand Jurors Association (CGJA), a non-profit organization of grand jury members from throughout the state. He served for 18 months on the Marin County Grand Jury in 1998-99 and is a "core issues" trainer for the CGJA, which, each year trains hundreds of new grand jurors about their responsibilities, powers and duties and how to effectively oversee local governments.
