Recently in Open Government Category

"Soviet premier, Joseph Stalin, routinely airbrushed his enemies out of images. In this photo, a commissar was removed from the original photograph after falling out of favor with Stalin."

Tuesday, New York Times: On a talk show last fall, a prominent political analyst named Mikhail G. Delyagin had some tart words about Vladimir V. Putin. When the program was later televised, Mr. Delyagin was not.
Not only were his remarks cut -- he was also digitally erased from the show, like a disgraced comrade airbrushed from an old Soviet photo.

Here. I don't know how useful it is, but it's at least an attempt at open government.

This is Edward again. I may restart posting in tandem with Kate, but I'm still trying to figure it out. Also reader comments might be a bit slow posting because of a spam attack.

Anyway, I just wanted to point out this story on how one town deals with the media:
1. Submit your questions, in writing, preferably via e-mail, to Judith Frazier, La Plata's town clerk.
2. Frazier will forward your questions to the appropriate town official. She also will notify the mayor and all council members of the media inquiry.
3. By the next business day, Frazier will send the official's prepared response via e-mail.

- I've reported on cities that hired a pr person; we jokingly call them flaks, as in flak jackets, because many times they are hired to protect elected officials from the media or the public. In rare cases, the pr person forces you to funnel everything through them so they can manage the media. It rarely works, because pols can't help themselves, and the $80,000 plus that pr people get hired for seems a bit high to budget hawks. I don't mean to bash all public information officers. Many take their jobs seriously and as a public trust. Some, not so much.

Pasadena Now says Councilman Steve Haderlein will be meeting with the city attorney today about a complaint filed against him.
(via Aaron Proctor)

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.

And what did Claremont learn from the reaction that Pomona received when it sent a threatening letter to a local blog? Apparently nothing.
From the DBulletin: "Former Claremont Mayor Diann Ring said she thinks the blog in her city is potentially heading toward litigation as well.
The Claremont Insider - also penned by an anonymous blogger - writes about Claremont city officials and the "goofy, too-serious, power types that run most of the town's service organizations, charities and city commissions."'
-- This all started with local blog Foothill Cities getting a 'cease and desist' letter from Pomona for posting reasons about its city manager resigning. It was overreaching by the city. And that's just from the experts. The city of Fontana should be the model for how to deal with blogs with the mayor and others posting: "Fontana's Director of Public Works Curtis Aaron also logs into the forums with regularity and answers the residents' questions.
"Most of 'em are usually people speaking out about something they don't understand or are frustrated with," Aaron said. "If there's something going on there that's an issue, we don't wait for it to get out of hand. We keep an eye on the blogs, and ... we can get on it right away."'

I'm not sure I like this. We were part of this public records audit as a way to show that police departments need to be transparent. While there may be a point where we would have to file a lawsuit for a particular case, a general lawsuit like this sounds counterproductive.

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.

Homeland Security committee: "Jefferson insists he has an honorable explanation, which he will provide when, and if, he's charged with a crime"

It's always fun trying to get rarely asked for public records. You know city officials are going to say no, because they always do. One of those are resumes. I just asked Irwindale* for their city manager's resume, and they declined citing personnel exemptions. According to Terry Francke, general counsel for Californians Aware, that's baloney. And he cites case law. I'll be citing it too when I ask for it again. I'll put up the relevant case law when I find it.

*For some reason I had a brain-lock and put in Monrovia. I haven't (yet?) asked Monrovia for the city manager's resume.

UPDATE: Francke e-mailed the case law. Relevant part - "plaintiffs would obtain information as to the education, training, experience, awards, previous positions and publications of the auditor. Such information is routinely presented in both professional and social settings, is relatively innocuous and implicates no applicable privacy or public policy exemption."

Full decision after jump: