San Diegans for Open Government has given San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer 30 days to stop collecting trash from short-term vacation rentals for free.
Read SDOG’s cease-and-desist letter here: 2019-10-15_Cease-Desist_STVR_Trash_ALL.
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SDOG Sues San Diego Unified School District for Plans to Automatically Delete Electronic Public Records Early
San Diegans for Open Government has filed a lawsuit against the San Diego Unified School District for its plan to automatically delete e-mail and other electronic records earlier than the law allows, and for not turning over a copy of electronic records slated for early destruction.
Read the lawsuit: Complaint.
SDOG Sues City of San Diego for Withholding Legal Memo Given to FS Investors’ Lawyers
Today San Diegans for Open Government sued the City of San Diego because the City refused to turn over a copy of the June 15, 2017 City Attorney Report cited in recent letters by attorney Christopher Garrett of Latham & Watkins, the law firm representing FS Investors on Soccer City.
You can read the lawsuit here: Complaint_FINAL_Signed_Redacted.
SAN DIEGANS FOR OPEN GOVERNMENT ASKS SAN DIEGO UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT FOR TO-BE-DELETED E-MAIL
Recently San Diego Unified School District announced that on July 1, 2017, it will begin deleting e-mail messages that are more than six months old. SDOG believes that it would be illegal for the District to destroy the e-mail messages so soon and will be sending a cease-and-desist letter shortly.
In the meantime, SDOG has asked the District for all e-mail messages that are on the block to be deleted. You can read the request here: 2017-06-16_CPRA_Request_ALL.
SDOG Sues Poway Unified School District, Three Board Members for Open-Meeting Violations in Hiring New Superintendent
Today San Diegans for Open Government sued Poway Unified School District and three members of its governing board for violating the state’s open-meeting law, the Ralph M. Brown Act, in hiring Dr. Marian Kim-Phelps as the new superintendent last month.
Following the City of Bell corruption scandal several years back, the state legislature amended the Brown Act to limit what a local agency’s governing body could do privately, at meetings from which members of the public and the press are excluded, when hiring high-level officials and setting their compensation.
PUSD and three of its board members are accused of secretly agreeing on the terms of employment for the new superintendent, including her compensation, and using intermediaries to reach a final agreement with her before giving the public an opportunity to comment on the agreement. According to the lawsuit, more than one press release announcing the new appointment was created before PUSD’s governing board ever held a scheduled vote on the appointment, and one of these press releases was written by the new superintendent herself.
You can read the lawsuit here: PUSD_Complaint.
Update: On August 21, SDOG filed its opposition to the defendants’ anti-SLAPP motion. You can read that opposition here: SDOG Anti-SLAPP_Opp_Compressed.
SDOG Sues San Ysidro School District Superintendent for Defrauding Taxpayers to Cover Up Hiring Scandal
Here is the complaint:
SDOG Sues East Village Association for Withholding Public Records
On February 1, 2017, San Diegans for Open Government (SDOG) sued the East Village Association, Inc. (EVA), a non-profit that runs the business improvement district in the East Village neighborhood of downtown San Diego, for not turning over public records.
On January 24, SDOG accused EVA’s board of directors of illegally hiring an interim executive director or interim board liaison in secret on January 20. SDOG also asked for all communications between EVA board members and the person hired during the secret meeting. EVA responded by denying the existence of any such communications.
SDOG alleges in its complaint that on January 24 “a person whose initials are B. H. e-mailed members of EVA’s board of directors to thank them for the opportunity to serve them and expressing excitement to begin working for them and appreciation for ‘giving me a chance.'”
You can read the lawsuit here: complaint.
Court Orders League of California Cities to Disclose Secret Jan Goldsmith E-Mails
On May 10, 2016, the San Diego County Superior Court ordered the League of California Cities to disclose portions of nearly 175 e-mail communications, rejecting claims by the League and San Diego City Attorney Jan Goldsmith that those items should remain secret due to attorney-client privilege and attorney work-product. The court gave the League 20 days to disclose the items. You can read the ruling here: WordPress_2016-05-10_Minute Order.
Neal Obermeyer Cartoon Says It All About Hotelier-Financed Media Attacks Against San Diegans for Open Government
This carton by Neal Obermeyer appeared in today’s edition of the San Diego Reader:
Hoteliers’ Lawyer Praised SDOG Not Long Ago
Following a judge’s ruling last week that SDOG has standing to challenge the San Diego Tourism Marketing District tax’s illegality in court, several people observed that the years-long strategy of the hoteliers’ lawyer, Mike Colantuono, in making personal attacks against SDOG and our attorney, Cory Briggs, appeared to be even worse than what people see in the movies. Those people asked SDOG whether we have any idea why Mr. Colantuono would behave in such a way.
As SDOG argued to the judge before he made his ruling, the hoteliers have more than one billion reasons to fight dirty and lie (the TMD tax will generate well over $1 billion over 39.5 years) and Mr. Colantuono has had more than two million reasons to be dirty and dishonest (his firm has been paid more than $2 million so far by the taxpayers). The top hotelier represented by Mr. Colantuono essentially confirmed this when he said that they “have pursued every legal avenue available to keep this case from going to trial.”
What many people do not realize is that, at the exact same time Mr. Colantuono was developing his scorched-earth strategy to go after SDOG and its attorney in a court of law and in the court of public opinion with lies and personal attacks, he was representing another San Diego client and writing nice things about SDOG.
In 2013 and 2014, Mr. Colantuono was representing the Downtown San Diego Partnership in a lawsuit filed by SDOG to challenge the legality of what is known as the Downtown Property and Business Improvement District. That lawsuit was settled in October 2014 with the help of a mediator. The settlement included a joint public statement in which DSDP was very complimentary of the work that SDOG does in the community. DSDP wrote: “We saw this as an opportunity to take advantage of San Diegans for Open Government’s expertise and its years of experience in advocating for San Diego residents on good-governance and public-finance issues.”
Guess who signed off on that statement? Mr. Colantuono did. You can see his signature and read the full statement here: SDOG-DSDP_Statement.
SDOG has no idea why Mr. Colantuono would be praising SDOG at the same time he was in the middle of an ad hominem attack campaign against SDOG and our attorney. It should make one wonder whether he told the hoteliers that he was taking a contrary position for another client right here in San Diego. Did the hoteliers know their lawyer would waste more than three years and over $2 million from taxpayers to tell a story he didn’t even believe?
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