Watchog May Settle for Ethics Panel's Data

PUBLIC INFORMATION -- Open Government advocate Allen Grossman may dismiss his lawsuit against the San Francisco Ethics Commission and its Executive Director, John St. Croix, if they provide him with all withheld public records about the Commission's dismissal of 14 complaints referred from the city's Sunshine Ordinance Task Force.

The requested records concern the Ethics Commission’s summary dismissal of every one of 14 cases from the Sunshine Ordinance Task Force involving refusals by city officials to correct documented violations of the open government laws, which the Ethics Commission was obliged to enforce. 

Kimo Crossman, a leader in open government advocacy and founder of the Sunshine Posse, said, "Obviously there has to be 'sunshine' concerning enforcement of the sunshine laws or the entire concept of open government is rendered meaningless.  It is my hope that the fact that these records and the knowledge that they are public will put the teeth back in the enforcement of sunshine violations and make public officials more accountable to the public’s right to know.”