Monday, July 23, 2012

Voice of OC sues the county (and the county will lose!)


Voice of OC Files Open Records Suit Against County (Voice of OC)

     Voice of OC has filed an open records lawsuit against Orange County, seeking access to a letter sent by Deputy CEO Alisa Drakodaidis that alleges a host of improper dealings among supervisors and other county officials.
     According to sources that have seen the letter, Drakodaidis goes so far as to accuse members of the Orange County Board of Supervisors of outright corruption involving contracts, hiring and promotions within OC Public Works, and potentially elsewhere in the county bureaucracy.
. . .
     Drakodaidis' letter … comes as a recent internal investigation by OC Public Works, which was obtained by Voice of OC, found that “past OC Public Works executive leadership has created cultures of favoritism, poor communication, organizational manipulation, and discrimination that have spawned low morale, distrust, and fear within OCPW.”
     County supervisors and other officials have acknowledged the existence of Drakodaidis' missive, but have refused to release it on grounds that it includes private medical information and would violate her privacy.
     Voice of OC and the open government advocacy group Californians Aware, which has joined Voice of OC in the lawsuit, assert that the letter represents a claim by Drakodaidis against the county and therefore must be released under the California Public Records Act.
     “I understand that county supervisors are worried about releasing a letter that makes what they consider to be baseless allegations against supervisors and staffers,” said Voice of OC Editor-in-Chief Norberto Santana. “However, embarrassment is not an exemption under the law in California regarding public records."….

Roy's obituary in LA Times and Register: "we were lucky to have you while we did"

  This ran in the Sunday December 24, 2023 edition of the Los Angeles Times and the Orange County Register : July 14, 1955 - November 20, 2...