By Emerson Drake
7/20/10
Is Modesto Violating the Brown Act?....Freedom of Information Request DeniedSeveral weeks ago a Public Records Request was made to the City of Modesto’s Attorney Susan Alcala Wood. After asking for a two week special extension which the City had a right to they denied the request for emails between Modesto City Council members.
First we believe this to be illegal and second we're forced to wonder what they are trying to hide.
We all remember the recent problems that Hughson is incurring regarding Brown Act violations. One of the several problems they have is they have been conversing outside of public purview which is illegal if enough members are present and are discussing city business.
Interestingly enough prior to requesting the records from Ms .Woods I spoke with a representative from their IT department who assured me gathering this information would not be a problem since the records are deleted after 30 days.Modesto has chosen to man the barricades and not allow the public to know what is happening behind the scenes.
We find this troubling and rife with potential legal problems.We encourage the Modest City Council to come clean and step into the light of day with all of their interactions.
You can count on us to follow this up to gain access to the potentially damning emails.
