Editors' Corner

but I'm also not praising it. Tonight they're expected to announce a new city manager.
With solid defensive action by lobbying groups, cities are not obligated by open-meeting laws to announce before the meeting who they have picked and negotiated a contract with. They can but most don't. I find it hard to believe that the public should not be able to comment on a city's top executive position; and I don't find it hard to believe that cities don't try to be more open about it. The city's statement that the release of the new manager's name 'could jeopardize his relationship with the city that now employs him' is absurd.
On a side note, Glendora also played dumb with releasing the employee contract. That, of course, is a violation of the Ralph M. Brown Act.
UPDATE: Alison Hewitt says it's Monterey Park City Manager Chris Jeffers. Better yet, she said they introduced him before they voted hiring him or approving his contract.

Posted by Edward at 10:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I've known Rich McKee for a few years now, and I still don't quite understand why he so zealously advocates the ideals of open-government.
He is a Pasadena City College chemistry professor, served as president of the California First Amendment Coalition and recently resigned from Californians Aware. For nearly 20 years, I think, he has challenged local municipalities and public agencies to follow the Ralph M. Brown Act and the Public Records Act. This includes filing lawsuits that he almost always won, forcing them to follow the law.
As part of our attempt to get more community voices in our paper, Rich, a La Verne resident, has become a columnist of late. It gives him a chance to spread the word about local open-government issues, and gives us unique opportunity to educate the public.
It's an experiment because Rich has to stay a chronicler and stay away from being a newsmaker. The transition so far has been smooth. But he becomes outraged quickly when he thinks someone has disregarded open-government laws, so it should be fun. Here's his latest column.

Posted by Edward at 11:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)