The Newsroom

Regarding Operation Phoenix, one of the more provocative talking points in this blog and elsewhere has been the propriety of the city attorney releasing email exchanges between some top city administrators, following a Freedom of Information Request Act on our part. Wrote Pat Morris last week: "A more professional and legally prudent action would have been to confidentially refer the matter to the District Attorney so the police investigation and District Attorney finding could have been made without publicly besmirching the careers of city professionals."
Here's my view on that, as a newspaper editor and someone whose DNA is embedded with the belief that the public's right to know is critical to our way of life.
I don't believe, as some have suggested, that the mayor is dissing the First Amendment or the Freedom of Information Act. I think his interest, first and foremost, is in protecting the city from legal liability and any further image hits.
At the same time, we're talking about a pressing public safety issue here. That some administrators were aware of misconduct - including the possibility at least of sexual misconduct - at a city facility and failed to report it to police or the mayor's office is something that any parent in this community needs to know. It raises serious questions about the level of order, control and security at community centers and other city facilities where, on a given day, thousands of children may be present.
Again, as a parent, as a taxpayer, I would want to know that as soon as that information became available, and would expect the newspaper to be my eyes and ears. It's why we're vigilant about pursuing information, and will use FOIA when need be.
As for those who have questioned Jim Penman's motives in releasing the information to us, let me put it this way ... it pleases me to no end when government leaders see things the way we do when it comes to your right to know. In their case, too, FOIA is not optional; it's the law.