Voice of OC (https://voiceofoc.org/tag/california-public-records-act/)
OC officials may have found a way to continue to immediately destroy many public records of their government communications, despite a court ruling that it’s probably illegal to do so.
Orange County officials likely are breaking the law with a policy allowing immediate destruction of public records and another rule banning public commenters from asking questions of county supervisors or addressing supervisors by name unless they have permission, a Superior Court judge ruled Wednesday.
ACLU lawyers say the county has a host of illegal and unconstitutional policies and practices that stifle public information and debate. A judge now will decide if officials are breaking the law and whether to block their policies.
Government emails and text messages about enforcement of Orange County’s campaign finance laws will be destroyed two years after they’re sent or received, under a policy county supervisors approved Tuesday.
San Clemente claimed the Transportation Corridor Agency (TCA), which manages toll roads in Orange County, illegally withheld public records, including payments totaling millions of dollars to lobbyists and public relation firms.
Orange County’s five elected supervisors preside over $6 billion in public spending and pressing issues like homelessness, mental health and drug treatment, and how to balance spending between those programs and county jails, the Sheriff’s Department, and District Attorney’s Office.
The policy says officials may “at any time” destroy emails and text messages they consider to be internal memos or “working notes.”
The plan could be illegal, according to two attorneys who specialize in California public records law.
County Supervisors Tuesday unanimously voted to pay Voice of OC $121,396 in legal fees after losing a Superior Court case for refusing to release public records about Supervisor Todd Spitzer’s handcuffing a preacher at a Wahoo’s restaurant.
Investigations into the Santa Ana mayor, county supervisor, and state senator are the subject of a records request by Craig Hunter, who alleged in a legal claim this month that District Attorney Tony Rackauckas “interfered in political corruption criminal investigations.” A spokeswoman for Rackauckas disputes the claim.