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Asked & Answered

A&A: Records request regarding government contractors was denied on privacy grounds

FAC July 12, 2010

Q:  I manage a small organization that helps teach people to use public records for their protection. Recently we made a request to several municipalities for records of payments made to people doing business with the muni’s. We sought to discover the names of persons or companies who were paid by the county or city in the previous year, and in order to separate individuals from companies we requested files sorted by tax ID information. 

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A&A: A Group of City Council Staffers Can Constitute a Serial Meeting, too

FAC July 12, 2010

Q: Our organization arranged a private meeting of some community stakeholders on a issue that will be coming before a city council committee, and we invited members of the staff of the three councilmen who make up that committee. However, we were told that only one staff member could attend, because any more would make it a violation of the Brown Act. Is it correct that meetings of elected officials’ staff members subject to the

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A&A: Engaged couple running for school board a conflict of interest?

FAC July 7, 2010

Q: I am a journalist preparing a story about two potential members of the local School Board. One is the recent city manager of the city who quit the post and the other is a current councilwoman who is not running for re-election this Nov. Both, though are running for the school board, and the two are engaged. This fact is the reason why the former city manager quit because of a conflict of interest

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A&A: How much can I spend advertising against a ballot measure?

FAC July 7, 2010

Q: I want to spend my own funds to buy newspaper ads to oppose a local ballot measure. Am I required to register and make campaign reports ? A: The answer to your question will depend on whether you would be considered a “committee” under applicable campaign finance laws, and therefore would be required to disclose expenditures over a certain amount that are in support or opposition of a ballot measure. The Political Reform Act

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A&A: Arrested at meeting for commenting on no-public-comment rule

FAC July 2, 2010

Q: I was arrested recently  while attending and covering as a journalist a wildlife protection meeting. The meeting is sponsored and regulated by the California Natural Resources Agency and the Dept. of Fish and Game. The facilitators illegally tried to establish a no public comment and no recording policy at these public meetings. I was arrested for trying to openly record the meeting, and for stating that the no public comment policy was illegal. They

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