A team of journalists on the staff of Marin’s Independent Journal won first place for Freedom of Information reporting in the 2009 California Newsaper Publisher Association contest. The staff members won for their work in getting the county to release payroll details that shed light on budget problems. -db
Marin Independent Journal
April 20, 2010
By Brad Breithaupt
WINNING FIRST PLACE for our “Freedom of Information” reporting was a great honor for the IJ.
In Sunday’s story, I was the only staffer mentioned in the report on the 2009 California Newspaper Publisher Association “Freedom of Information” award because I wrote the 2008 story about the county’s release of its detailed payroll.
I was involved in the two-year fight to get the county to release that data, but it was far from a lone effort. It really was a team effort that also included another reporter, Keri Brenner, and IJ editors Matt Wilson, Doug Bunnell, Robert Sterling and Nels Johnson. The team also included then-publisher Mario van Dongen – and our ownership, MediaNews, who even amid significant budget difficulties believed strongly about the public’s right to know and invested money to defend that right in court.
Our story let taxpayers know that one in five county employees was making $100,000 or more in salary and overtime pay. The data showed thousands of taxpayer dollars being spent on overtime pay for county tech workers to fix its disastrous conversion to a new fiscal software system. Overtime records also showed that the county emergency dispatch center was having costly staffing problems.
Without disclosure, those figures would still be out of reach to taxpayers, those who are paying for local government.
The details also shined a light on how local firefighters brought home large sums of overtime pay for serving on state “strike teams,” rushing to help stop major wildfires across the state. The state reimbursed the county for extra pay. While no one should tell these firefighters to stay home, the cost should not be kept unavailable for open and public review.
I first worked on the story as a coach and cheerleader for Brenner, who faced bureaucratic obstacles getting dollars-and-cents specifics on some promotions the supervisors had approved. She was told the numbers were confidential by county brass, who said they were following new county rules and recent court rulings.
Brenner, with Johnson’s encouragement, would not take “no” for an answer and pursued the story. As editorial page editor, I wrote editorials, urging the supervisors to reverse county staff’s stand.
County officials proudly pointed to their online posting of positions and pay levels, but said workers’ names, their pay and overtime were off limits to the public.
The supervisors at first argued against changing its rule – a sign of support for county employees. In this case, elected officials put loyalty to the bureaucracy ahead of the taxpayers they represent.
Bunnell and I had a summit meeting with a team of county leaders and told them the IJ was committed to the fight.
The supervisors eventually voted to disclose the details. That disclosure was stopped by a lawsuit filed by the county’s middle-management members, who argued that it was a violation of their right to privacy.
The legal battle was on – and not surprisingly, the supervisors decided to stay out of the fight.
We were represented by Bay Area lawyer Roger Myers. We spent hours researching our records, combing through dust-covered boxes of old IJ stories and writing depositions.
The union won in local courts, but we prevailed on appeal.
I was back working as a reporter when the story fell into my lap.
The payroll data we fought for is available in a searchable database on our website: www.marinij.com/data.
The IJ’s victory – in reporting on the county payroll and winning the CNPA award – truly was a group effort of a team of local journalists who believed it was important to halt the erosion of the public’s right to know. I’m proud of the IJ.
Copyright 2010 Marin Independent Journal. MediaNews Group.