California newspaper interests are suing the state Senate to obtain calendar entries of two recently indicted senators. Leland Yee, D-San Francisco, is changed with a number of offenses including public corruption and weapons trafficking. Ron Calderon, D-Montebello, has also been indicted for multiple offenses among them wire fraud, bribery and money laundering. (Contra Costa Times, July 31, 2014, by Matthias Gafni)
Requests for the information were filed under the Legislative Open Records Act and rejected by the Senate on the grounds that the communications between legislators and citizens were private and that in this case the pubic interest in disclosure did not outweigh the public interest in keeping the information under wraps. San Jose Mercury managing editor Bert Robinson said that the bias should always be to make information public, the public’s right to know prevailing in all but the most extreme circumstances. (Courthouse News Service, August 1, 2014, by Maria Dinzeo)