Open Government

Commentary: The limits of Open Government and the Council’s Right to Know

Commentary: The limits of Open Government and the Council’s Right to Know

By David GreenwaldFebruary 5, 20099 comments
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A few weeks the Davis City Council was trying to decide to what extent they had the right to demand to read the Ombudsman’s Investigation into the Yolo County Grand Jury report. In a lot of ways it was a strange discussion. Let us forget for a moment about the content of that report and focus only on the process at hand.

City Attorney Harriet Steiner ruled two things. First, that the city manager had the right to determine whether or not the council could see something. Second, that if the council did view these personnel matters or a report deemed to cover a personnel matter, it could subject the city to liability. In essence, the city attorney deemed that in a city manager model, the council has no more right to view personnel records than members of the public.

Basically the city council hires the city manager. They are responsible for evaluating his performance. It was that evaluative process that led to the city manager’s new contract that was approved last week in open session. However, as councilmember Sue Greenwald and Councilmember Lamar Heystek asked, how is the council supposed to evaluate the city manager, if they cannot review his work product. If they are in the dark about certain reports deemed “personnel matters,” how can they determine how well the city manager has done his job?

The Rise of New Investigative Reporting

The Rise of New Investigative Reporting

By David GreenwaldDecember 27, 200818 comments
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Back in November the New York Times had an interesting article, the focus was on a San Diego blog–Voice of San Diego.

Writes the New York Times:

“Over the last two years, some of this city’s darkest secrets have been dragged into the light — city officials with conflicts of interest and hidden pay raises, affordable housing that was not affordable, misleading crime statistics.

A look at Deep Throat, Investigative Reporting, and the Role of Deep Throat in Watergate

A look at Deep Throat, Investigative Reporting, and the Role of Deep Throat in Watergate

By David GreenwaldDecember 26, 200810 comments
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Given that it is the day after Christmas, I thought we would talk about something a little different from what we usual talk about. As a fan of and a recent practitioner of investigative reporting, the story of Deep Throat and Woodward and Bernstein has been intriguing to me. Woodward and Bernstein’s investigative reporting during Watergate started a new era and inspired young journalists in hopes of becoming the next muckraking reporter.

The past week marked the passing of Mark Felt at the age of 95. Mark Felt in 2005 revealed that he was in fact the mysterious Deep Throat, Bob Woodward’s deep background source in the early Watergate stories. Much controversy surrounds the actions of Deep Throat, even to this day. To many who considered Watergate an appalling abuse of power and a true threat to the very fabric of democracy, Mark Felt is a hero and a whistle blower who put the country first. Others consider him disloyal for leaking at best secret information available to him at his position as the No.2 man in the FBI.

Councilmember Heystek’s Purchase of Affordable Housing Done Properly

Councilmember Heystek’s Purchase of Affordable Housing Done Properly

By David GreenwaldNovember 18, 200882 comments

At the request of one of the councilmembers, the city of Davis investigated the purchase of a home by Councilmember Lamar Heystek. After review of the documentation, the city was satisfied that the Councilmember’s home was purchased through the standard processing steps.

A September 9, 2008, an item appeared in the consent calendar pertaining to the purchase of Councilmember Lamar Heystek’s home in the redevelopment area of the city.