FILED – Grossman Verified Complaint.pdf
Press Release: October 6, 2009
Immediate Press Inquiries, Contact: Allen Grossman 415-831-3720
ETHICS COMMISSION SUED FOR CONCEALING PUBLIC RECORDS
REGARDING FAILURE TO ENFORCE SUNSHINE LAWS
In a lawsuit filed Monday in the San Francisco Superior Court, Open Government advocate Allen
Grossman charges that the Ethics Commission suppressed public records relating to its consistent
failure to enforce violations of state and local open government laws. These suppressed public records
will likely establish that the Ethics Commission and its Executive Director, John St. Croix, had no
justification for their summary dismissal of every violation by City officials, including the Mayor and
the City Attorney, of open government laws referred to the Ethics Commission by the Sunshine
Ordinance Task Force, a total of 14 such referrals over the past five years.
Under the City’s Sunshine Ordinance, the Task Force decides whether such a violation exists and, if so,
orders the official involved to disclose the public record. If the official refuses to comply with the
disclosure Order, the Task Force refers the case to the Ethics Commission for enforcement. In more
egregious cases, the Task Force also may find “official misconduct†by the official, a finding, which if
enforced, could result in the official’s removal from office.
The lawsuit alleges that the Ethics Commission itself is violating the California Public Records Act
and the City’s Sunshine Ordinance by illegally withholding the very public records that would shed
any light on its non-action in every one of the 14 Task Force referred cases, including those in which
the Task Force found “official misconduct.â€
The Ethics Commission was created by a Charter Amendment passed by San Francisco voters in 1993
to enforce ethical standards of conduct in City Government. Similarly, in 1999 the voters
overwhelmingly approved a strengthened Sunshine Ordinance to give this City the strongest mandate
for transparency in government in the State. Mr. Grossman stated when filing his lawsuit, “In the face
of the strong open government message delivered to the City government by the voters, the notion that
the Ethics Commission exists as a sort of black hole of open government enforcement is simply not
acceptable. We have no idea how much secrecy in our City government has been fostered by the
Ethics Commission’s refusal to make even one example of a defiant official.†These fourteen cases are
all of the referrals from 2004 to the present. In each there was neither enforcement nor an adequate
justification for its absence. “These are not technical violations.” Grossman said, “This is an assault on
the public’s right to know.”
According to Kimo Crossman, a leader in open government advocacy and founder of the Sunshine
Posse, “The Ethics Commission has been a major disgrace by failing to act on even one violation,
including some of those violations that the Task Force found to be flagrant and willful. The result has
been that the Sunshine Ordinance Task Force has been effectively handcuffed, although the Ethics
Commission was created to make enforcement possible to promote ethical government.” Some current
and former members of the Task Force have also expressed their concern that this unbroken pattern of
unjustified dismissals has weakened the Task Force and the cause of open government in the City.
A hearing on Mr. Grossman’s Petition is scheduled for November [12]. 2009. Under State law, these
public records petitions are given expedited treatment and, if successful, the petitioner is awarded
attorneys fees.
Judy Alexander, Esq. and Gregory P. O’Hara, Esq. of Nixon Peabody LLP’s Palo Alto Office represent
Mr. Grossman.
For further information, please contact Mr. Grossman at (415) 831-3720.
>
> Case No. CPF-09-509868
> Department: 302
> Hearing Date: Tuesday, November 10, 2009 at 9:30am
> Judge: Charlotte Woolard
>